Former inmates complete skills training program
SOME 20 former inmates have graduated from the skills training scholarship program sponsored by the Department of Justice Parole and Probation Administration (DOJPPA)-11 through the office of Davao City Councilor April Marie Dayap on October 17.
The ceremony was held at the Agdao Flyover with a total of 26 graduates who completed 100 hours of basic welding course at the Endonela Institute of Technology Foundation, Inc. (EITFI).
“This is the first time that we have partnered with the LGU in initiating projects with our parolees and we are thankful that the office of Councilor Dayap and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) have supported us in our projects. The legal mandate of our office is to redeem valuable human material. Even if they are considered outcasts of the society being criminal offenders, but we give them the chance to prove themselves and we believe that they have the capacity to change for the better,” DOJ-PPA-11 assistant regional director Benjamin Cutay Jr. told Sun.Star Davao in an interview.
He also said that they are already preparing a project study that will involve more LGUs and other government agencies in providing additional services to guide their clients in going back to the folds of the law.
“We will try to tap more offices including the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) so that we could provide more benefits to our clients. We know there are funds for these projects and instead of leaving these funds at the wrong hands, it is better that we help out the parolees, pardonees and probationers since this may also help in curbing criminalities,” Cutay added.
Dayap, in a separate interview, said: “I have already expressed my intention that this will be the first of the many projects that we are willing to coordinate with the DOJ-PPA since we share the same intention of giving chance to the parolees.”
But while the former inmates have already completed the 100 hours for the basics, they are set to accomplish 250 more hours of Welding Training Course at EITFI.