What has been done:
Our Community Bail Bond Program continued to make waves last November. Our Program Field Officers continued with their regular activities that included conducting weekly monitoring/home visits of successfully released participants, providing guidance and updating the steps they are taking towards reintegration.
Nine of our CBB Participants had scheduled hearings for the period covered. Five hearings pushed through and four were postponed/reset. Two of our CBB Participants were acquitted of the charges brought against them while one CBB Participant’s case was provisionally dismissed.
Aside from the weekly monitoring of our released Participants, our Program Field Officers likewise were unfailing in conducting initial home and barangay visits for applicants, coordinating with barangay officials & PAO lawyers, and the processing of bail for CBB Applicants.
Our two partner organizations from Cagayan Provincial Jail and Cagayan De Oro City-VIPS have begun monitoring their own CBB Participants as well as continued to screen referrals for possible assistance. We are extremely proud of how our program has expanded beyond the National Capital Region.
We began discussions with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City Chapter for possibly piloting the CBB Program at Cebu City. Our Program Field Officer, Solita Baltazar, visited Cebu City last November 22 and joined the IBP Cebu City Chapter during their Mobile Legal Aid Clinic at Cebu City Jail.
For this period, we were able to successfully release 7 CBB Participants from detention through bail and other means. They join the 109 other CBB Participants that have been released, all of whom we are assisting towards community reintegration.
Last November we, our Executive Director, Ms. Tessie Gomez, was invited by the BJMP National Headquarters Community Relations Section to take part in a documentary video that they shall release in celebration of the Bureau’s 30th Anniversary.
As of November 4, there have been 346 individuals referred to our program coming from 18 jail facilities, 7 police stations, 3 youth centers, and 3 correctional facilities. Of this number 168 had been interviewed. Of the interviewed, 71 had been successfully bailed out while another 45 had been released through other legal means.
More significantly, we have a total of 25 CBB Participants who have successfully graduated from the CBB Program. We consider participants as having successfully graduated from the Program after their cases have been closed, and at least another six months of monitoring have elapsed. Throughout this period, they must have shown to be responsible members of their community and can lead productive lives.
With their release, the government has now saved Php 1,639,150.00. This is computed by adding the amount budgeted per day (PhP70 for food) per PDL multiplied by the number of days since the day of the release from jail of every individual Participant. These savings will increase as days go by and as long as their cases are not terminated. For those whose cases are dismissed, served early or whose probation was approved, we expect a savings of least 60 days of non-incarceration.
Additionally, on top of the food savings by the government, these individuals are now back to the community and actively engaged in their livelihood- hence contributing to the economy. We minimized their exposure to the criminogenic jail environment leading to better reentry to the society as responsible members.
As we forge ahead with our Community Bail Bond Program, we continue to learn and re-learn approaches and procedures. And this is a welcome experience for us. We envision that more PDLs and CICLs would be assisted soon with their liberties restored, their dignity regained and that their lives are eventually rebuilt. We as a community have a significant role in all these. In the long run, support for our prisons and prisoners as a whole would benefit all of society in terms of lower rates of recidivism and increased sense of public safety. GOD IS ON OUR SIDE!
Comments