‘Parol’ job lifts spirits of Albay prisoners

HOLIDAY WORK Detainees start producing colorful Christmas lanterns or “parol” as a livelihood project inside the Albay District Jail in Barangay Bogtong in Legazpi City. MARK ALVIC ESPLANA

Christmas is in the air this early at the Albay District Jail in Legazpi City, where inmates are busy producing parol (holiday lanterns) to be marketed for them by prison officials.

“I think the money we get from making lanterns is the best Christmas present I can give to my family,” said Anthony Lotino, 31, who has found himself trying to earn an honest living instead of running away with somebody else’s wallet outside the facility. He has been in jail for five months on robbery charges.

Another inmate, Ruben Milay, 37, who is charged with illegal drug possession, said learning how to make the lanterns had relieved him of stress while weaning away from substance abuse. For him, time flies very fast since he is busy the whole day wrapping parol with bamboo frames.

Milay, who has been in jail since Jan. 6, 2014, described his work as “good leisure time.” He said it had kept him relaxed, “forgetting the hardship and loneliness” from being away from his family.

The livelihood project, which provides inmates a venue to use their time productively and to remold them to becoming responsible persons, is now on its fifth year, said Insp. Jerome Gerero, the jail warden.

Regular sessions on learning how to produce parol are held ahead of the Christmas season under the jail management’s Inmate Welfare and Development Program, he said.

The prisoners are also taught how to make house decorations, auto body painting and other skills, JO2 Fe dela Rosa said.

In September, Ramon Morano, 56, a freed prisoner who learned the trade from the district jail, was invited to teach female inmates how to make Christmas decorations out of sinamai (abaca fiber), Dela Rosa said. Morano is now doing “great” in his business enterprise of making handicraft and Christmas decor items, she added.

The prisoners’ parol is cheaper than those commercially sold. It is priced from P50 (small) to P200 (biggest) apiece.

The Albay District Jail gets bulk orders from local government units in the province and posh hotels in the capital, Legazpi City. “Actually, we are rushing hundreds of pieces of lanterns for the provincial government as these will be displayed at the Peñaranda Park (in December),” Dela Rosa said.

Ninety percent of the jail’s population of 107 (17 females and 90 males) are engaged in Christmas decoration-making. Each of them is paid P15 per piece, or an average of P4,000, depending on bulk orders from customers.

“We also give them a bonus by organizing a Christmas party and giving them gifts so they would feel they are a part of a family,” Dela Rosa said. She prefer calling them jail “residents.”

This year, the lanterns may reach Canada as ordered by one buyer, she said. “Getting orders from abroad is an indication that our product is beautiful and of good quality. That’s why we give them training to further enhance their skills and talents,” she said.

Grace Olayres, 40, who has been in jail since 2011 for possession of prohibited drugs, is thankful to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel for giving her and her fellow inmates a way to make a living.

Her earnings allow her to meet her personal needs, such as toiletries and food, as she is seldom visited by her loved ones, Olayres said.