ABUYOG, Leyte—Sixty-three persons deprived of liberty turned students at the Leyte Regional Prison here received a new pair of shoes, socks, school bags, some laptops, and computers from the employees of Standard Chartered Bank on Saturday.
Leyte division education officials headed by superintendent Ronelo Al Firmo and his assistant schools’ division superintendent Edgar Tenasas, along with Corrections Senior Superintendent Geraldo I. Aro, thanked the bank employees for their “package of surprises” to the PDLs in support to their senior high school studies.
Tenasas, in his speech, said that as they continue to search for partners in the operation of their senior high school program inside the correctional facility, they are lucky to have the assistance from the Standard Chartered Bank employees led by Mai Sangalang, the Philippines Head of Corporate Affairs/Brand and Marketing, who personally came to the prison facility.
Aro also expressed appreciation to the efforts of the bank, adding that its help is very timely for the rehabilitation of their PDLs.
“We started from scratch here. We’re always thankful of your help,” Aro told the bank employees.
For her part, Sangalang said that they didn’t think twice about helping the PDLs.
“If there is one message that we would like to give you, it is the message of hope. Even though you’re here, don’t lose hope,” said Sangalang, who turned emotional during her speech.
Meanwhile, Firmo said that the opening of senior high school at the Abuyog penal colony is part of his mandate of providing access to education for the high school students in Leyte, noting the low participation rate and high drop-out rate which he found out when he assumed office in 2013.
“We started to put up high schools around Leyte. We’ve been working silently, and up to this time, we’ve learned that we already established over 30 high schools,” he added.
Tenasas earlier disclosed that they already secured the support from Leyte 3rd Congressional District Representative Vicente Veloso who has allocated P26.7 million for the construction of six classrooms two-story building, a big gymnasium, a library, and computer laboratory inside the prison facility.
He added that the selected PDLs are part of the “special class” of the nearby Hampipila National High School in the municipality.
Its school principal Orlando Cabantoc and other district education supervisors will also support in the delivery of the senior high curriculum to the PDLs, Tenasas said.
Tenasas hoped that the PDLs will become “virtual workers” like encoders or transcriptionists when they will leave the correctional facility, noting that most of the Filipinos remain indifferent to former PDLs in their workplaces.