The reformatory program goes beyond persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) changing the lives of inmates and transcending to their family members when Baguio jail guards reached out to the children left in limbo because of their parents’ incarceration.
The Baguio City Jail Female Dormitory headed by warden Jail Senior Inspector April Rose Ayangwa launched last year the “ Pag-aaruga Ko, Kasama Pamilya Mo” outreach program which enabled the jail workers to chip in donations for inmates’ families left behind their homes or left behind neighbors or strangers.
In the first three months of the project realizing that there are more children left behind, the jail guards became determined to sustain the project thru the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology (BJMP) who are the most affected physically, morally and spiritually by the situation. They then delivered whatever goods they pooled to the children for their daily needs.
“The PDLs’ children were afraid to meet with, and refused to talk to, us during our first visit because of our uniform. But later on as the children became closer to us, they started hugging and thanking us whenever we visited them in their residence with groceries and other prime commodities for their daily needs,” Warden Ayangwa related.
The project is now supported by service providers and private individuals. Ayangwa admitted that it became her obsession and a commitment to help the children in need when her daughter died on December 16, 2010 upon delivery due to eclampsia which also endangered her own life.
“This is my second life. The death of my daughter during my delivery softened my heart whenever I see a poor child,” she said.
During the assessment and inspection last January by the BJMP national head office, the inspection team was impressed and even considered replicating the program.
Last March 21, US based Pastor Eunice Yun of Beth Israel Jewish Ministry and local resident Maureen Tanseco, president of Benedictine Oblates shouldered the daily needs of the two PDLs with five children by donating a month-long supply of food consisting of a cavan of rice, vegetables, and grocery items.
Baby and children’s clothing and diapers were also given to recipients from the donations of Rose Tagaban from Mizawa, Japan who is an active donor for the “A Pair Of Shoes for the Indigent Cordillera Athletes” founded by Ida Agunos- Franklin based in Nevada USA.
Alice whose 1 year and 8 month old baby was entrusted to a lady friend and Mary (not her real name) are behind bars for a month now. Mary admitted it was for theft. Her husband was caught by the police the following day during visitation inside the city jail with a long standing warrant for theft totally leaving behind their one year and three month old child and their three children aged four, seven and nine years old to a kind hearted neighbor in their barangay. She was in tears and thankful for the help to her children’s daily needs and safety.
Due to hardship in life 35 years old Bing (not her real name) and her 14 year old daughter from Davao came here to seek for a better future but only to face the ordeal of being suspected of killing her boyfriend (which she vehemently denied) in May 5, 2015. With tears, she said she was also thankful that her 14 year old daughter is under the care of a well-known orphanage here and continuing her studies under the Alternative Learning System (ALS). “My jailguards are now the second parents of my daughter whom Madam Ayangwa visits once a month and she informs me the latest development of my daughter,” she said.
Alice, Mary and Bing are now very supportive and physically active in various activities and programs inside the city jail unlike their first days of incarceration which they spend worrying on the fate and ordeal of the children they left behind.
The three lady inmates started to dream again for the future of their children upon learning that they are being well cared for, undergoing value formation programs, spiritual and mental counseling programs with their service providers. During follow-up visitations the children are invited for a treat in the park, church services or a hearty meal in a restaurant. “We are thankful that our children have now second parents to discipline them and inculcate to them good moral values and fear of God. We are praying hard that they will not experience life in jail, and not to follow our footsteps,” they said.**Bong Cayabyab
