Every time I hear of activities like this, I light up with pride and joy knowing that our people continue to exhibit the true essence of a Filipino — kind, loving, and doing things with that luminous smile.
So, for this week’s column, I’m veering away from the usual tourist destinations, to focus on the heart of the Filipino, which is what truly makes him an attraction that always awes our foreign visitors, giving them the most important reason why they “Love the Philippines.”
Bright smiles lit up the faces of over 2,600 medium-security inmates of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City when they were treated to a hearty meal cooked especially for them over the holidays by three famous local chefs.
The cooking event dubbed as the Bilibid or Not Cookout was an initiative of Lucas Lepri Philippines (LLP) to support the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation Inc. (PJPS) and its scholarship program for deserving children whose parents are incarcerated at the nation’s main jail facility. Scholars under the program will gain a formal education, giving them better opportunities to bring about a positive change in their lives.
By organizing the cookout, Lucas Lepri Philippines in partnership with PJPS, aimed to draw attention to the plight of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and their need for financial assistance to be able to send their kids to school. Its main goal is to establish an endowment fund that would sustainably support the scholarship program over the long term.
Well-known chefs JP Anglo, Ninong Ry, and Chavi Romawac responded to LLP’s call and jumped at the opportunity to put their combined culinary talents to good use. All popular kitchen personalities, with a large base of followers, teamed up for their first-ever prison community project as their way of spreading the word in support of their friends at LLP and this meaningful cause.
The outdoor makeshift kitchen set up within the prison grounds was bright and breezy, a perfect match to the jovial mood of the whole team helping out that day. Cooking up a storm, the celebrity chefs served up hundreds of kilos of Chicken Adobo and Bistek, each dish prepared in 3 different ways and cooked onsite. With all hands on deck, the hugely successful cookout is just the starting point of things getting better for PDLs and their children’s future.
Krissy Kairuz, General Manager of LLP, happily shared that the fundraising cooking event has already brought in pledges for the scholarship fund. Expressing how good and uplifting it felt to be the hands that extend help, she added, “We not only served up platefuls of food but we served up plates of hope for a brighter tomorrow for the families of those behind bars.”
As the premier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training center in the country today, Lucas Lepri Philippines thanked all those who responded and gave generously to support their project of giving hope and rebuilding lives.
Learn more about how to be a sponsorship partner through MK Guaño at: pjps@pjps.org.ph or you may give the gift of education by donating to:
Metrobank
Account Name: Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation Inc.
Account No. 3497-3495 130 44
YOUR MONDAY CHUCKLE
Gone are the days when girls used to cook like their mothers. Now, they drink like their fathers.
For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com
