What has been done:
As we see the nation starting to open up and embrace the “new normal”, our jail facilities also begin to adapt and explore ways to normalize their facilities and services to PDL.
Our Community Bail Bond Program also begins to expand under Alert Level 1 as we experience greater mobility. Our Program Field Officers forged ahead going above and beyond the call of duty. These included conducting weekly monitoring/home visits of referrals & successfully released participants, attending court hearings, coordinating with barangay officials & PAO lawyers, and the processing of bail.
Aside from the weekly monitoring of released CBB Participants, our Program Field Officers likewise were unfailing in attending court hearings, coordinating with barangay officials & PAO lawyers, and the processing of bail.
For this period were able to successfully release 2 CBB Participant from detention through bail. They join the 76 other CBB Participants that have been released, all of whom we are assisting towards community reintegration.
We continued engagement with our partners in the criminal justice system. In partnership with the Rotary Club of Midtown Quezon City, we launched the “Padyak Pangkabuhayan” Project that provided mobile food carts for 10 CBB Participants as a source of livelihood as they continue with their community reintegration.
In support of the BJMP’s quest to arrive at an evidence-based PDL Classification System, we engaged with their National Headquarters for the expansion of the ongoing pilot implementation of the Classification, Risk Assessment and Case Management Program (CARCMP) and the Narag-Nario Lopez-Latoza, et al Classification and Risk Assessment (CRA) Interview Tool for general PDL population. An 8-session training involving 5 NCR jails (Manila CJ-FD, Quezon CJ-FD, Marikina CJ-MD, Pasig CJ-FD, and Taguig CJ-FD) began last February 19 and will end on April 9, 2022.
We continued providing crisis intervention assistance to our CBB Participants in need as a result of the pandemic.
As of March 4, there have been 241 individuals referred to our program coming from 18 jail facilities, 7 police stations, 3 youth centers, and 3 correctional facilities. Of this number 114 had been interviewed. Of the interviewed, 43 had been successfully bailed out while another 35 had been released through other legal means.
More significantly, we have a total of 13 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, capital assistance loans from our partner NGO have been settled, 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 1,068,780.00. 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!
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