The Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center has collected a total of P2.8 million in donations from foreign and local visitors who have watched the dancing inmates.
The officer-in-charge of CPDRC, Byron Garcia, who is also a Capitol consultan, said the money, from visitors, organizations, politicians, and cooperatives, and these will be deposited to a blue book account and will be used by the inmates upon their released.
Representative Agapito “Butch” Aquino, and CFI Cooperative founder and chairman Esperanza Garcia each pledged P150,000 for the CPDRC.
There are 1,500 inmates at the CPDRC, and Byron said that each inmate will be receiving P1,866, at the time the inmate is released.He said that a freed inmate will have ready money to start a livelihood.
“It’s not the amount and their dancing, which is only for entertainment, but for rehabilitation program,” Byron said, adding that getting the inmates to join an exercise routine and dancing was his idea of reforming inmates in the jail.
Inside the jail, they learned soapmaking, sewing shirts, and making bags, and these skills will help the inmates start a livelihood upon their release, said Byron.
The dancing inmates became instant stars after their video, showing them dancing to Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit song Thriller, got over 1 million hits in YouTube since it was first posted on July.
Aside from the Thriller performance, also uploaded on YouTube were the inmates’ other dances for the music, such as Radio Gaga by Queen, I Will Follow Him from the movie Sister Act and even Jumbo Hotdog by local group Masculados. — Garry B. Lao/RAE