Dec 31, 2020
Behind the Walls of the Princess Royal Youth Hostel
Tonight, we begin our final newscast for 2020 by going behind the razor wires and chain-link fence at the Princess Royal Youth Hostel. For the better part of the last thirteen years, the facility has been closely guarded by the Ministry of Human Development which has kept the media at bay, particularly during times of unrest. On Wednesday, Minister Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of State Gilroy Usher Sr. and Chief Executive Officer Tanya Santos toured the facility and saw firsthand the heartrending situation that teenagers are forced to reckon with in the name of rehabilitation. This morning an invitation was extended to us, for the first time, and here is what reporter Isani Cayetano also saw.
Dec 10, 2020
One Mo’ Grocery Bag for 2020!
There is an update tonight on the status of the Ministry of Human Development’s food programme. We have confirmed that there are only enough supplies for one more round to be distributed through the Grocery Bag programme which will take place on Tuesday, December fifteenth. At this time, there are no future dates if or when the next distribution will take place because the ministry reports that there are no funds to procure additional groceries for the remainder of this financial year. We reached out to Chief Executive Officer Tanya Santos of the Ministry of Human Development for an update on the status of the programme, following a review that was done over the past three weeks when the programme took a pause. Santos says that the assessment showed that there were many deserving recipients on the list, but there were also many others on the list who weren’t the target beneficiaries and so they were removed and replaced