MANILA (AsiaNews): The Philippine government officially calls it “National Correctional Conscience Week”. Prison chaplains, nuns and penitentiary volunteers hope that everyone in Philippine society will celebrate the event that the Church also celebrates every October so that everyone can learn and share stories of change and find more ways in which prisoners and free people can work together towards paths of restorative justice.
In the Philippines, the Jesuits are at work in prisons. Since it began in 1994, 23 priests of the Society of Jesus have worked for the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service [PJPS]. Father Vic Labao, for example, works in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, the largest in the Philippines.
“The help we give is part of daily needs such as the distribution of bars of soap to all the over 34 thousand people detained in the largest prison in the nation”, explains Father Matthew Delgado, PJPS Advocacy Programme Coordinator.
The Jesuits also work with the Correctional Institution for Women, a women’s prison in Mandaluyong: “With the help of volunteers and raising awareness this week, we can do more than we ever thought possible. This allows us to increase the impact of the programmes activated by the Church throughout the country.”
The objective of the Philippine Church is to support the path of change and humanisation of detention in Philippine prisons, aiming at the rehabilitation of people deprived of liberty. “Together we can create a better future for the people in the country who are not free,” Father Delgado concludes.
