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Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Light of a second chance
By Leticia Suarez-Orendain
Bobby was viewed as most likely to succeed. After all, he was brilliant. Yet all he asked was be given the light of a second chance.
Unexpectedly, he did not graduate from a regular school but from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) college program. Yes, he was a prisoner.
Father Victor “Vic” A. Labao, S.J., founder of a cooperative inside the 500-hectare jail compound, said Bobby was a good student leader.
He worked hard to restore Bobby so when he was released, hope was high. He would make it.
Two months later, Bobby was found dead after a “robbery” encounter with the law.
This broke the Cebuano priest’s heart. In the twinkling of an eye, all the work was gone.
Then a friend, Cornelio “Nonoy” Torrijos, told him not to be discouraged. “We haven’t prepared them for their release to be gainfully employed and haven’t prepared free society to make room for them.”
Strange that death should be a catalyst. Labao decided on livelihood. The Pag-asa sa Paglaya (PSP) Multi-purpose Cooperative is the result of the vision that the human soul is redeemable. It is the only one of its kind in the Philippines.
“Better kon local support. Foreign funding lang kon stable na. I’d seen coops fall when the foreign aid stopped.”
The coop entered the World Bank-sponsored tilt First Philippine Development Innovation Market Place.
Their Light a Hope candle-making project for ex-convicts and their families competed with 1,800 other entries.
“We promised the Sto. Niño we’d light 100 of our candles (16 inches long and about three inches round) for the Sinulog, win or lose. Last Jan. 10, we won a P1-million grant. We’ll use it for capital and upgrading of equipment.”
Labao is also grateful to the Rotary Club of Ermita for helping them with a $10,000 grant and for helping them in marketing their products. In the last five years, PSP has sold P3,332,018.32 worth of goods.
PSP, born 10 years ago, manufactures scented liturgical and novelty candles that have become former prisoners’ light of a second chance.
Labao opened a store in Cebu, the PSP Kandila Factory Outlet, to introduce the idea here. He plans to plant a coop in Cebu’s jails.
“My prison work started after my ordination in 1987.”
Before that, he jokingly calls his work as pinari or limited to saying mass and other priestly duties. Then in 1992 Bobby was found dead. It was a wake-up call.
The first project was Tinapay sa Buhay Bakery. It did not prosper. Labao next thought of orchid growing but shifted to candle-making.
Thus started the PSP project at the NBP minimum security compound. It became a coop in 1993 and has 60 members.
In 1994, Labao founded the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service (PJPS) Foundation, which supervises PSP. The foundation, a part of the social apostolate of the Society of Jesus, has other projects (see box).
A virtual basic ecclesiastic community, PSP is open to newly-released inmates (and their families) in need of work and fraternal support as they gradually re-enter free society.
The only requirement is their release paper. Labao agreed that it takes five to six years to cover your tracks.
“I tell them we have to show that we can be trusted with money. Dili nato itago nga ex-prisoners ta. We have to change the mindset of people about former prisoners.”
What a rough start! The first workshop was a lean-to that shook during storms. Its tarpaulin roof leaked during rains.
Father Roy Cosca and Labao would ask Saniwares for used toilet bowl crates. They would bring it to the NBP.
“Maoy isugnod namo. Mangayo mig used crayons sa mga schools. Among tunawon sa takuri ug tin cans.”
They even went to Star City when it was torn down for scrap lumber and other materials for the shop.
“Baga man mig nawong,” Labao jests but early on he and the workers were not laughing.
The candles were from low-grade material, so the quality was poor. Rejects were frequent. It compounded the pain of accidental burns. Handcrafted candles are worked with bare hands while the wax is warm.
There were sleepless nights when they gazed at the ugly candles. They nearly abandoned ship. Then someone supplied them with a better method.
Workers now are trained (e.g. one month for the rose flower candle) and understand quality control (QC). “We need to have standards. I encourage them not to give up. Since the candle is handcrafted, it teaches them patience. It’s a whole value formation.”
Patience and hard work paid off. The factory now has an office and a computer for accounting.
Danny Banagbanag, a former inmate who graduated from the prison school, is the accountant.
They now have a warehouse and sections like for molding. They no longer use firewood. “LPG na ron.”
Work is labor intensive as the coop wants to hire people. There is an assembly line to do the intricate rose candle. Workers can earn as high as P2,000.
“We instill a sense of ownership. So at every stage, ikaw in charge sa quality kay kon ma-reject, kamo tanan magbahinbahin sa bayad. Edgar Marcelo, a former inmate, is the QC clerk.”
Competition is high so they create new ideas. After their bamboo candle was copied by other makers, they designed the glowing bamboo candle.
“And that glow is the second chance to become the person God wants us to be.”
(January 20, 2004 issue)
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