25 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) of the Pangasinan Provincial Jail (PPJ) are now applying their knowledge and skills from their 29-day training on ‘Organic Agriculture Production NC II’ by planting various vegetable seedlings.
Planted within the PPJ lots and plastic mineral water containers are tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, bitter gourd (ampalaya), pechay, malunggay, and kangkong, among other vegetables.
‘Yong mga produkto na yan ay ibebenta ng PDL kung may dadalaw dito. Sila din ang kikita galing sa mga tinanim nila,’ Antonio Santos, PPJ Administrative Assistant III, said.
He added that the training was conducted from February 16 to March 27 through the joint effort of the PPJ headed by Jovell U. Dalisay and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Provincial Training Center (PTC) Administrator Romeo C. Pandio, under the supervision of Regional Director, Region 1, Joel M. Pilotin.
Aiming to strengthen the PPJ’s advocacy and commitment to helping inmates, each PDL trainee received a National Certificate II (NC2) and a training support fund amounting to 160 pesos per day, or Php 4,640.00, for the entire duration of the training.
Topics discussed and learned by PDL trainees were natural farming concoctions and the use of natural pesticides, among others.
“Nagpapasalamat po kami kay Gov. Ramon V. Guico at kay PPJ Chief Lovell Dalisay dahil sila po ang naging daan upang kami ay mapansin ng ating gobyerno na bigyan kami ng opportunity na makapg-aral at makapag-bagongbuhay kung saan ay magagamit namin ang aming natutunan. Higit sa lahat ay upang maging kapaki-pakinabang kami sa lipunan, a message shared by Daryll, a PDL recipient and graduate of the aforementioned training.
“Hindi po naming makakamit ito kung hindi po sa kanila, sa kanilang pagmamahal at pagmamalasakit sa aming mga PDL. Malaking tulong po ang naibigay nila sa amin na bukod sa nalilibang kami, ay meron pa po kaming kaalaman,” Daryll further added.
(Chona C. Bugayong, with reports from Rich Majin and Jairus Sibayan/PIMRO)
