A beautiful story of faith and hope

MANILA, Philippines - Mercy was an illegal recruiter. Girlie was a drug pusher. Both have a life sentence.

But everyone deserves a second chance. This is what the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyomg City is trying to do for the many women under its custody. Under its different rehabilitation programs, in particular the values education program, attending inmates of CIW are taught and hopefully reformed to become responsible members of their community while paying their debts to society.

“No person or anything in this world can change us. Through the values education fellowship, we learn the word of God,” enthuses Mercy (not her real name). “It is the power of God that keeps us going and gives us hope that things will get better someday.”

The inmates, many incarcerated for crimes such as murder, parricide, drug pushing, illegal recruitment, estafa, robbery and theft, among others, have begun to embrace moral reformation. CIW has a variety of rehabilitation programs designed to change patterns of anti-social behavior, channel errant creativity, and tap disruptive energy into productivity. CIW develops inmate manpower skills through training sessions and seminars that provide the prisoners with a source of income and, more importantly, restore their dignity and redeem their much-eroded self-worth.

“The administration is constantly searching and seeking to develop our potentials, skills in handicrafts, sewing, artificial flower making, and even teaching, to name a few,” says Mercy. “We are grateful to them, especially to Superintendent IV Atty. Rachel D. Ruelo for her compassionate management. Difficult to ignore also are PIS Frannie Garduque, penal institute supervisor who understands the unique problems of women and is willing to help us; PG 1 Cecile Alcala, supervisor, who is kind and sees to everyone’s welfare; PG 1 Cato Hermie Arevalo who is warm and accommodating: Wardress III Elsa Martorillas, as well as Administration Aid III Maritel Veneracion.”

Via Venetto, through its CEO Ging Pajaro and daughter, Ginggay, has been supportive of the institution’s development program by way of a partnership engaging the inmates to make beaded bags with their skillful hands as a source of income.Using beads of various kinds and colors, they lay out the beads on the bed, string, knot tight and weave them into the body shape of the design. This is a long and tedious process, but the inmates have the luxury of time. These bags are designed by and exclusively for Via Venetto. Via Venetto’s new collection of bags, courtesy of the CIW inmates, is a class of its own with a cause.

To appreciate this collection, visit Via Venetto at Greenbelt 1, Glorietta 5, TriNoma, Mega Mall, and Alabang Town Center.