The Zamboanga City Male Dormitory of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) bagged the most outstanding jail unit “on peace-building and innovations”, besting 478 other district, city and municipal jails in the country.
Dubbed as the “The Gray Dove Award, the BJMP said that it is an annual search, conferred every 21st day of Sept. in harmony with the International Day of Peace or Peace Day.”
In a statement, the BJMP noted that Parang District Jail won second place and Olongapo City District Jail bagged third place based on the “careful evaluation and validation of the BJMP National Program on Awards and lncentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE) Committee.’’
The BJMP explained that the annual search aims to identify outstanding accomplishments in preventing and countering violent extremism and the implementation of peace-building efforts.
Likewise, the recognition “encourages creativity, innovativeness, efficiency, integrity, and productivity, by recognizing and rewarding the superior accomplishments of jail units, and to further promote a culture of peace in the organization.’’
“It's not ordinary to engage PDL (persons deprived of liberty) with terrorism-related cases including those who are living with the trauma of their difficult past,” Zamboanga City Male Dormitory jail warden Supt. Xavier Solda.
“But no matter how difficult our job is, we are ready to listen and more than willing to extend our hand to help each of the PDL under our care in their reformation process,” he added.
Solda noted the huge impact of the reform agenda of the unit to PDL particularly on training and education, provision of livelihood opportunities, health service delivery, facility developments, and decongestion initiatives.
BJMP chief Jail Director Ruel Rivera emphasized the value of the peace-building efforts that each of the jail units has made in addressing various issues among PDL with terrorism-related cases.
“Our job becomes more serious because of the violent extremist offenders being placed under our care but we will continue to move forward with our welfare and development efforts,” Rivera asserted.
Rivera added that “the jail bureau will continue to align ourselves and our peace efforts with our partners in the peace and security sector toward a just and lasting peace for our country.”
The formal awarding ceremony for the Gray Dove Award was held on Sept. 21 at the BJMP National Headquarters during the culmination of the National Peace Month Commemoration.