Parole system cuts expenses, saves P41M

The parole and probation system of the Department of Justice has registered savings of at least P41 million from January up to June this year in Central Visayas, according to a report of the regional office of the Parole and Probation Administration.

The regional office of the PPA is currently supervising 5,201 probationers, parolees, and pardonees. PPA-7 regional officer-in-charge Ofelia Quijano said that if these persons were still in jails, the agency could not have saved this much.

In terms of prison maintenance at P30 per day, the government spends about P56.95 million for 5,201 inmates in one year.

Quijano said the 5,201 clients under its supervision are now out of jails and "instead of being tax eaters, they are already taxpayers."

Since the parole and probation system's implementation in 1978, PPA has already 23,800 graduates of its various livelihood programs who are reintegrated into communities. Of the total probationers, parolees, and pardonees handled by PPA-7, Mandaue City Parole and Probation Office has

the highest supervision caseload of 560 clients; Talisay City PPO has 490; Cebu City PPO 1, 2 and 3 has 443, 324 and 226 respectively; Lapu-Lapu City PPO has 330; Toledo City PPO has 272; and Cebu Provincial PPO 1, 2 and 3 has 90, 168 and 185 respectively.

In related development, the PPA will celebrate the 29th anniversary of the promulgation of Presidential Decree 968 or the Adult Probation Law signed last July 24, 1976. The law promotes the correction and rehabilitation of an offender by providing him with personalized, community-based treatment; and an opportunity for his reformation and reintegration into the community to prevent him from committing offenses.