Low-quality youth: Marauding gangs of 7-12 year-old children terrorize Metro Manila motorists!

One man's liability is another man's asset. An abundance of wayward street children in Metro Manila is turning into a lucrative human resource for crime syndicates it seems. Marauding gangs of children aged 7 to 12 years now terrorise motorists stuck in Manila's renowned traffic jams...

The children called “batang hamog," are known to attack vehicles stuck in traffic. On Tuesday, Makati police apprehended several children aged 7-12 who are part of the street gang.

They were not jailed. They were instead turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development because there were minors.

The group’s modus operandi consist of sending a member to knock on the window of an unsuspecting driver while another child opens the car door on the other side, according to the report.

The debate on the Philippine Reproductive Health Bill rages on and the kernel of most of the argument is around population -- specifically whether the enormous population of the Philippines is an asset or a liability.

A statement made by former President Fidel V Ramos encapsulates the real nature of the challenge that Filipinos face as far as turning their vast numbers to productive elements of an economy that they hope will grow stronger in the foreseeable future...

I think the philosophy of RH bill is that we must learn to produce quality people in this world instead of producing people who only end up as, say, beggars on the streets, scavengers, or sellers of cheap or prohibited items. This, I think, is the real valid argument in favor of the RH bill [...]

The emergence of a new and younger breed of criminal elements in an already crime-ravaged society is testament to the relevance of Ramos's words. If a society is inherently incapable of developing its vast well of warm bodies into productive citizens, others will seize the opportunity to do so and earn the big bucks.