ILOILO CITY – – Products made by persons deprived of liberty (PDL), or inmates, are now being showcased at the Livelihood Bazaar put up in line with the celebration of the 2018 National Correctional Consciousness Week.
The bazaar opened at the lobby of the Hall of Justice in this city on Monday, led by the Bureau of jail Management and Penology in Western Visayas (BJMP-6).
In an interview, Florence Viyo, chairman of the Committee on Bazaar, said the proceeds of the bazaar will be directly given back to the PDLs who have contributed their products.
“We are just helping them to sell but we will not get any percentage from their income,” she said.
Most of these products from the PDLs are specially hand-made like, wallets, bags and pouches made of beads; piggy banks made of recycled containers; furniture made of plastic straws and wood. These products are displayed in one table so buyers could choose what to purchase.
Viyo said they have an inventory of all the items that were displayed and sold.
There are more than 20 jail units participating in the bazaar to include, Iloilo District Jail, Roxas City District Jail, Dumangas District Jail, Mambusao District Jail, Barotac Viejo District Jail, among others.
This is the third time that a livelihood bazaar has been organized, Viyo said.
Jail Officer 1 Junbert Alvarez of BJMP-6, who is selling the products of PDLs, said the PDLs were able to produce the items as a result of trainings that were provided to them and materials given by the Inmate Welfare Development (IWD) program.
He also recognized the help of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) that provides on-site skills training to the PDLs.
“This bazaar is really important because it was able to showcase the talents of our PDLs and share them to other people, as well as they gain income,” he said.
Alvarez urged the public to visit the bazaar so they could also contribute to the income of PDLs.
Meanwhile, Viyo said they also opened their comic strips competition, which will be participated in by the nine jails in the city and province of Iloilo.
The participants should depict in their entry the theme of this year’s correctional consciousness week celebration, “Pagbabago sa kanlungan ng piitan, ay tunay na makakamtan sa makabagong pamamaraan.”
The winners in the competition have corresponding prizes– 1st prize, PHP5,000; 2nd prize, PHP3,000; and 3rd prize, PHP2,000. The winners will be announced on Friday.
These are just among the activities held to highlight the celebration of the Correctional Consciousness Week.
On October 25, an “Uganayan Talakayan” will be conducted in different jail units in the region to discuss the concerns of the PDLs while on October 26, BJMP-6 will recognize some of its outstanding service providers to be held at the Capitol lobby. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
