Andulan, Mina Minorka B.

BUS560M – GTD
11881771 Oct. 04, 2018
New Bilibid Prison Visit

One of the requirements in our Lasallian Business Leadership, Ethics and CSR class is to visit
the New Bilibid Prison and the Philippine Jesuit Prison Services (PJPS). In connection with this visits,
the goals are to interact with person deprived of liberty (PDL) and assess what we can do to be able
to cater the needs of the community. The first time I learned that the community that we will be
helping is the Bilibib, my initial reactions are confused and fear. I got confused because it is the first
time I heard of it and didn’t’ know that it is possible and fear is a normal reaction because it is the
prison. However, despite all these feelings of confusion and fear, I got a little bit excited because it
is something new and I want to experience it first-hand. The class had our first visit last Friday and
it is nothing like I expected. When we enter the medium facility, all the PDLs are already in the gate
and they were all staring at the class, this the only time when I realized that we are really entering
and we will be seeing actual PDLs and we all got scared. However, while walking inside and seeing
the community, we realized that it is just like a normal community but confined within walls of the
Bilibid compound. The PDLs prepared a short program for us and the one that really stuck with me
is when they sung an original composition depicting their life in Bilibid. Moreover, everyone in the
class was given a chance to interact with PDLs. The one that I was able to talk with is Kuya
Jessieboy and he told me that he’s been in the facility since 2005 for being an accessory to the
crime but he will be leaving on 2021. He also mentioned that on that same day is also the visiting
day in the facility and all of these people that we were able to talk with are those who do not have
visitors.

Having given the chance and opportunity to experience this kind of activity is something I
will treasure and will always have a spot in my heart. I have all my doubts and inhibitions but after
the activity I felt like it brought out something in me that I wouldn’t have expected at all.
Furthermore, I went in there with a goal in my mind to help and impart something on them but it’s
the other way around. I learned a lot from Kuya Jessieboy and from everyone we were able to
meet, they do not deny that they made mistakes in the past but they also believe that even though
they are in the prison, they can make their time inside worthwhile and make themselves a better
person. Another thing that made me really admired them is their faith in God. We can say that they
may be at their lowest, but, they never lost the faith. They are not blaming and questioning God for
the situation they currently in but they kept believing in Him and knowing that no one will be able to
help them the most but God. All those stories they shared made me realize that people do change.
It is not a blanket statement and despite everything that the media portrayed them to be, they are
still people who simply made a mistake. This may not be the same with the people who were
affected by their mistakes but at the end of the day, there is no human being who doesn’t make a
mistake. Thus, we are in no position to judge. It also made me wants to become a better person
and make use of the freedom that was taken from them. Lastly, I am also in awe with their
determination to learn. Some of them became teachers and some are already finishing elementary
and moving up to the next level of education.

After learning how passionate the PDLs on their education, we decided to create an English
Workbook and an English-Tagalog dictionary to aid their elementary school. Aside from doing it as a
requirement in class, we also wanted to leave something on them and help them achieve their goal.
They’ve shown us that even though their resources are limited, it does not stop them from learning
and it is definitely something to look up to. That’s why even though are efforts might be simple and
small, I really hope that it can be beneficial to them especially for those who are nearly finishing
their sentence and will be leaving the facility to help them be prepared in integrating to the society
again.