When the light shines again
growing and changing at the Preda home. Most of them are also taking the vocational training course as part of their diversion program under Republic Act 9344 or the “Philippine Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act” that promotes restorative justice rather than harsh punishment. His graduation day and chance to be reintegrated to his sister’s family was when the light shone for him. It was a new day, a bright shining moment when he knew that he was truly accepted, respected as a person of value and had true friends and would be helped to succeed in life.
Benjie, only 16, has completed many hours of electrical repair training and driving, which will be a good chance for him to get a job when he leaves the Preda home and becomes of legal age. He has completed his Alternative Learning System education, a substitute for the years he missed high school after he was arrested for taking and possessing illegal drugs. He discovered his true self, and he has human value and dignity at Preda home for boys. Thousands have been helped since 1974 to find recovery, peace and success in life. The light has shone for many like Benjie. His life story is a sad one as he tells it:
“My parents are separated; I was left with my grandmother in the slums when I was 10. (grandmother) became old and sickly because we had no money and I begged for food. When I was 14 years old, I tried to support her by selling vegetables from the open market but it was wasn’t enough for survival. We ate the rotten ones and bought (uneaten leftovers from restaurants). Then a drug dealer recruited me, offered me cash and food and then drugs. I got hooked myself and I owed him money and worked for him. I was controlled by this gangster drug dealer; there was no way out. He threatened me and would kill Lola if I ran away and refused to deliver his dirty drugs. I was set for a life as a criminal and would likely be dead because of the war against drugs. If I were not saved by Preda and that lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office, I would have been killed for sure.”
When Preda social workers intervened and a judge agreed to send Benjie to Preda, that was when the light shone for him. He graduated and has a bright future ahead of him. He can make his way in life and will succeed and his children will learn the values of respect and love and dignity.
As many as 1,230 children are confined today in youth detention centers as far as we know. There could be more that we don’t know. They are deprived of liberty and behind bars or in cages around the Philippines. The Preda Foundation has campaigned for the release of the children and as of today the number released is 323 children so far. There is hope, and we must continue to advocate for the release of the unjustly jailed children.