Killing time by making Xmas decor at city jail

Cebu City Jail inmates have been making Christmas decorations since 2011 as shown by this Nov. 24, 2011 photo of a lantern displayed along V. Rama Avenue.
CDN FILE

Cebu City Jail inmates are making Christmas decorations as their way of cashing in on the holiday season.

Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez of the Cebu City Engineering Office said that the making of Christmas decorations is one of the products made through the program initiated by the City Engineering Office.

Enriquez said that she helped in initiating the program after she was assigned to the Cebu City Jail to improve the building facilities there.

The Christmas decorations include products made through the art of knotting cord or strings in patterns to make decorative articles called “Macrame.”

Enriquez said that this has been her hobby since she was a child, and she helped teach this to the inmates to help them earn.

She said that she started the project with 20 inmates undergoing the livelihood training.

She, however, said that only six among the 20 completed the training.

“Those inmates who were already trained, they can also help in training other inmates,” Enriquez said.

Aside from Christmas decor, female inmates were also taught to make soaps, bags, key chains and other decorative items.

Mark Badillas, one of the beneficiaries of the project, said that the program helps them a lot, aside from gaining income; it also serves as a diversion for them to focus on something while serving and waiting for their sentence inside the jail.

Badillas has been imprisoned for a year for a drug-related case.

“We are thankful because it really help us a lot so that we could change ourselves, especially when we will be released from this facility,” Badillas said.
The Christmas decorations were sold from P50 and above.