SOME 100 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) presently detained at District Jail of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Dagupan City have been  earning from sale and repair of their crafted Christmas decors since September this year.

In an interview Tuesday, jail officer Janice Wackisan of BJMP Dagupan’s community relations service, said Christmas-decor making and repair is a regular livelihood activity of the facility during the holiday season.

“With the social media, more and more people are patronizing the PDLs products and services,” she said.

Among their regular customers, Wackisan said, are business establishments, malls and barangays who order decors or have their previous decors repaired by the PDLs.

“The customers’ most common orders are the star-shaped lanterns and nativity decors. Some provide the materials and the PDLs assemble them here. The payment depends on the work needed to be done for their orders,” she said.

The PDL workers, she added, are volunteers who have the skills to do the job.

BJMP Dagupan also sells ready-made Christmas decors with prices range from Php25 to Php200, Wackisan said.

“The income goes directly to the PDLs who produced or repaired the items,” she said.

She said 80 percent of the PDLs in BJMP Dagupan are involved in other livelihood activities such as basket-making, tailoring, among others.

“The PDLs cater to companies from different parts of the province even from other provinces in the basket-making. They also produce uniforms for schools and medical gowns for hospitals,” Wackisan said.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority continuously conduct skills training for the PDLs (Helen Martin)

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