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MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur – Under the leadership of Minister Raissa H. Jajurie, a recipient of the Government Service Award at Ateneo de Manila University’s (AdMU) Traditional University Awards on November 6, 2024, the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) extended its assistance to the Marawi City Jail here, bringing joy and happiness to Persons Deprived of Liberty (PLDs).
This is in line with the celebration of the 2024 Bangsamoro Children’s Month, as the MSSD, together with members of the Bangsamoro Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of Children (RSCWC) and the Regional Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council (RJJWC), conducted an outreach program for 81 children of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) at Marawi City Jail on November 14, 2024.
Each child participant received a cap, a tumbler, and an umbrella from MSSD. Additionally, partners from the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) provided meals for the participants, while the Ministry of Health (MOH) distributed hygiene kits to 165 PDL women in the the three jail facilities in Marawi City.
The outreach program at Marawi City Jail, a model facility that just opened in March 2024, aims to provide an opportunity for children and their PDL parents to bond and celebrate Bangsamoro Children’s Month together.
Activities included an orientation on Child Rights and Child Protection, alongside fun games participated by both the PDLs and their children.
“Masaya ako na nakasama ang mga anak ko sa ganitong activity. Sobrang saya nila lalo na nakatanggap pa sila ng mga supplies tulad ng tumbler na pangarap ko lang bilhin para sa kanila. Maraming salamat sa pag-alala MSSD,” says Ali (not his real name), one of the PDLs, expressing his gratitude to MSSD.
(Tranlation: I am truly grateful that my children were able to participate in this activity. They are overjoyed, especially when they received the supplies, like the tumblers, which I had only dreamed of being able to buy for them. Thank you so much, MSSD, for thinking of us and making this possible.)
“We are pleased to kick off this year’s Outreach Programs at Marawi City Jail, marking the first in a series of outreach activities lined up for the 2024 Bangsamoro Children’s Month celebration. Alongside bringing joy to the children through fun games, we also made sure to impart essential information on child protection — not just to the children, but also to their parents and our partners. This forms part of our collective effort to ensure their safety and well-being,” Johynne Amilyn G. Nasa, MSSD’s Regional Focal Person for Child and Youth Welfare Program, emphasizes.
Also present during the activity were representatives from the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission (BHRC), the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and the Marawi City Social Welfare and Development Office.
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. (✓)