On Halloween day, I spent the morning at The Makati City Jail. It’s just a few blocks from MC Home Depot in the Fort. This is where people are detained while they are waiting for their day in court. It’s a pity because some of them wait for so many years, it’s like they served their sentence already. Then when the time comes for them to go to court, they meet their lawyers a few hours only before their trial
Yet it was nice to see that despite that, people here are trying to make the most of what they have
When you first enter, you see a nice christmas tree made from recycled plastic bags. They celebrate early too like me 🙂
Thank you to my friend, Chary, for bringing me along with her. For Chary this is a regular routine for her as she comes every week to tutor the detainees. Thank you too to Bong Espenocilla, a detainee himself, for touring us around and telling me about life in their place
A typical day for them
Everyone is kept busy which is good. I would not know how life is in a place like this but seeing all of them, it was nice to see some smiles on their faces and hope that maybe one day they will still have a life outside
These are the old jail cells for solitary confinement but these are not used anymore nowadays. This is where Ninoy Aquino and Serge Osmeña stayed during their stay here. Now they are used for conjugal visits of spouses or just locked up and not being used
They cook their own food
They are a very religious community. There are even volunteers who regularly visit, some even everyday to give spiritual guidance for them. They have a grotto in the garden with a chubby Mother Mary 🙂 They are looking for someone to donate a Virgin Mary for their grotto. I actually like their version because I find it unique and antique already 🙂
Chary never visited the cells but this visit we went inside and we toured the male cells and they even serenaded us 🙂 They were very well behaved and the place was clean and neat. There are around 400 plus male detainees
And we visited the female cells. There are almost a hundred female detainees, not as many as the males
They have many, many activities to keep them busy, who said life in jail was boring? Not here!
Chary teaches up to 10 per class. Since March this year, Chary and other volunteers with her – Jason Bangayan, Leah Puyat and Risa Garcia come over to tutor them for an hour. Many of them don’t have highschool diplomas, so teachers from the Department of Education come twice a week to teach them and Chary and her friends come once a week to tutor them in preparation for the once a year test they will have to pass to get their diplomas.
and boys have separate classes from girls, they are not really allowed to interact unless they have joint activities planned. Chary told me that she used to teach them under the heat of the sun! It’s a good thing now they have these huts where they can work in
Thank you Chary for this very enlightening experience for me. I will never forget this Halloween Day. And Thank you to you and your friends for giving hope to the detainees who are wiling to learn and earn a highschool degree. And maybe one day when they are free and can go out in the real world, they will be ready and able to do more for themselves and face a bright future
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thank you for sharing this experience. also, my appreciation to ms. chary for what she is doing for our brothers and sisters in the penitentiary. i hope you don’t mind me asking which organization she works for, because i’ve been wanting to volunteer as a tutor even for a couple of hours per week. I too believe in the importance of education. thank you!
Hello poh!
I really admire your good heart for helping our fellow brothers and sisters eventhough andun sila sa loob ng jail.
I am one of the choir member from our church who have a regular worship service at makati city jail. Last week ngvolunteer ako to attend as choir member and that is my very first time to visit the makati city jail since taga rizal naman talaga ko. and un i felt mixed emotions. Yun bang feeling na masaya ka kasi you enlighten their day (becoz of the words of god), nakakatouch kasi despite of their situation eh still they are seeking for god and yun malungkot kasi i know the fact that after that certain hours, they will go inside na ulit…but then..nasabi ko sa sarili ko na i want to volunteer in other activities someday na makakatulong sa kanila…
Sana madaming tao pa na katulad mo na willing tumulong without consequences. And sana someday..makatulong din ako..
Thanks and god bless… 🙂
pwede po magtanung. kanino po pwede iADDRESS yung letter if ever may kailangan po kami sa office po ninyo. UMak student po ako.
is arlene brigoli there. and if pleac let me talk to her