About 37 inmates who are students of the University of Perpetual Help Bilibid Extension School received their diplomas during its 29th commencement rites Thursday inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
New Bureau of Corrections Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa was guest of honor and speaker in the rites talks that saw the graduates join their relatives and the faculty in the ceremony.
Eighteen graduates completed their Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship, while 19 finished a Computer Hardware Servicing course inside Bilibid.
The degree holders also completed the compulsory internship program inside the jail thru Chief Supt. Rexy Morales, chief of BuCor’s Training and Education Department; Dr. Daisy Tamayo, University of Perpetual Help’s vice chairman of the board, and Anthony Tamayo, university president.
The extension school has produced more than 500 graduates since it was established in 1985.
In 2017, 17 student-inmates completed the program. Some of the extension school’s graduates who have served their sentences are already employed outside Bilibid, giving them new hope for a better future.
The school, located at the Medium Security Compound of Bilibid’s Camp Sampaguita, is one of Perpetual’s corporate social responsibility programs. It also runs the Mangyan Mission School in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, according to Dr. Antonio Tamayo, Chair and Founder of University of Perpetual Help System Dalta.