BAGUIO CITY – For three half-days, persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) will turn the Baguio City Jail Quadrangle into a market to display and sell their products and raise funds for their children and families this Christmas.
The livelihood product display and trade fair with the theme “Suporta Mo sa Produktong Piitan Hatid ay Kasiyahan sa Pamilyang Nangangailangan,” will happen on Nov. 27, Dec. 4 and 11 at 1-5 p.m.
Male and Female Dorm Wardens J/Chief Insps. Crispin Dornagon and April Rose Ayangwa appealed to bargain hunters to check out the fair for unique finds that are ideal as gifts for Christmas and other occasions.
Among the products to be sold at affordable prices are the resin sculptures and accessories, coin banks designed with either resin of colored sand, wire sculptures, bronze artifacts and accessories and new designs of tamboocraft made by the male inmates.
The ladies will sell their handcrafted Christmas tree decorations, bags, purses, keychains, bonsai beads, mugs with rattan holders and pillows (standard, throw and travelers) and many more.
The proceeds of the fair will go to the Home Visitation Program of the City Jail particularly for buying gifts and Noche Buena items for the children and families of the inmates.
Part of the funds will also go to the improvement of the Livelihood Service Center.
Aside from having unique finds as gifts, buyers get to contribute to the reformation of the inmates by affording them a chance to put to use the skills they learn and eke out a living for their families despite their incarceration, according to Dornagon and Ayangwa.
Both the dorms have been implementing diverse reformatory activities including skills building and enhancement trainings year-round for the PDLs to prepare them for their eventual reintegration into society.
By: Aileen Refuerzo
