By Ercel Maandig/PNA
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Lanterns of varying sizes and designs have become an attraction as they adorn the Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail (MOPJ) here every Christmas season.
But the inmates who make them worry that they would not be able to sustain the annual tradition with the dwindling skilled craftsmen among their ranks. A plan to transfer the jail facility to one of the province’s rural town also threatens their income.
Vicente Libona, who has been making Christmas lanterns in his decade-long detention at the jail facility, said the inmate-run cooperative that manages their business generated an income of PHP500,000 last year.
“We have been manufacturing lanterns for two decades here, and business has been good throughout those years,” Libona said in the dialect.
However, they may not be able to hit last year’s profit this year, he said, as most of their “expert” lantern makers have already been freed and left the detention facility.
Libona, who is affectionately known as “Tatay” (father) to MOPJ’s 537 inmates, noted that they made a thousand pieces of lantern in 2017 compared to 300 this year.
Another development that could doom their business is the provincial government’s plan to transfer the jail facility to the upland town of Claveria or Alubijid.
That would deprive the inmates access to a sizable market, thanks to the jail’s location within the city’s central business district. The provincial government even constructed a display center within the jail facility, intersected by busy roads where malls and hotels are a mere stone-throw away.
Sangguniang Panlalawigan Board Member Wayne Melitante said the jail’s prime location has been a magnet for developers who want to take advantage of the area’s accessibility.
One company, Militante said, has proposed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme to develop the MOPJ property.
For years, security concerns have been raised on the existence of the downtown jail facility. In January this year, a “trustee” managed to escape from the jail compound. In 2011, seven inmates were able to escape the facility.
For Libona and his colleagues, however, moving outside their current location would spell the end of their business.
It would be a waste, he said, to throw away the cooperative they strived to build for years.
Jail Warden Dominador Tagarda said the group generates an average income of PHP650,000 per year, derived from its own store and its handicraft-making venture that produce products such as wooden plaques and trophies, laces, sandals and candles.
The cooperative even sells “chicharon.”
Just this September, the Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail Employees and Inmates Multipurpose Cooperative formally registered their livelihood association with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).
Libona said they will just have to take what life throws at them, and make do of what they have.
