COTABATO CITY -- At least 50 inmates of Sultan Kudarat District Jail are now certified National Certificate (NC-2) holders after graduating from programs of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Region 12.
“The inmates, once they are out of jail, are already reformed and productive citizens to their communities with the skills they earned from TESDA,” TESDA – Sultan Kudarat Provincial Director Amir Ampao said in a radio interview Wednesday.
While inside the jail facility in Barangay Kalawag, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, the inmates -- now called Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) -- were trained by TESDA in carpentry and food processing.
In partnership with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology–Sultan Kudarat, Ampao said 25 male inmates are now certified carpenters after they received their National Certificate (NC-2) in carpentry, while 25 female inmates received certificates for National Competency (NC-2) in food processing.
“I thought life would be empty, I thought I will be unproductive once I get out from here,” said Alma (not her real name), a lady inmate who is expected to go back to mainstream society next month.
Alma, one of the inmates who earned the NC-2 certificate in food processing, said she has earlier planned of working abroad for fear that the stigma of being a law offender would stay when she rejoins her family.
“Thanks to TESDA all I need now is capital to start a small business,” Alma added.
Ampao and Israel Arboleda, Sultan Kudarat district jail warden, recently led the awarding of certificates during graduation rites held inside the provincial jail facility.
According to Ampao, training primarily aims to make the inmates more competitive, restore self-confidence and productive once they begin a new chapter of their lives outside four corners of the jail facility.
“There is still hope for a new life for them,” Ampao said in Filipino.
Some of the graduates are set to step out of jail after serving in full their prison terms after graduation.
TESDA-12 Director Rafael Abrogar II said the training was one of the many programs that TESDA offers not only for persons deprived of liberty but also for rebel returnees, drug dependents, persons with disabilities, overseas Filipino workers, and other marginalized sectors in the society. (PNA)
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