At Cebu City Jail Bilib I.T. launched

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Jail inmates may now have the opportunity to learn about information technology while serving their sentence.

A program called BILIB I.T. was launched yesterday to help city jail inmates acquire the basic knowledge about information technology.

Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano, in line with his advocacy for prisoner’s welfare, launched the program which is designed to give detainees the necessary skills to rejoin the country’s workforce once their sentence ends.

Cayetano, in cooperation with Informatics and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, sees this initiative as a chance to maximize the reform and rehabilitation function of the country’s justice system.

Three classrooms were already built inside the city jail wherein trainers will be sent everyday to train the detainees.

Informatics president and chief executive officer Leo Riigen said that a total of 180 inmates are expected to avail of the BILIB I.T. scholarship.

Riigen, whose computer school also officially inaugurated yesterday at the North Reclamation Area, said that of the 180 inmates, 80 of these are male, 50 female and 50 youth.

BILIB I.T. was first launched in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.  Cebu City Jail’s launching yesterday was the first outside Metro Manila.

Among the courses offered include Finishing Course of call center agents, computer hardware servicing and programming. Qualified inmates are those who have served the sentence and since they cannot cope with life in the real world has preferred to stay inside and live in the community and detainees who are place on minimum security and those who are expected to be in for six years or less.

Cayetano also gave P100,000 worth of medical assistance for each of the jail facilities in Cebu.  (FREEMAN)