145 PDLs from Cebu City Jail-Female Dormitory graduate from ALS
CEBU CITY – For this group of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL), having restricted freedom is not a hindrance in their quest for knowledge.
Clad in traditional white togas and with their parents and relatives in attendance, some 145 PDLs on Monday, August 7, graduated from the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and received their diplomas during the Moving-Up and Graduation Ceremonies at the Cebu City Jail-Female Dormitory in Barangay Kalunasan here.

MORE than 100 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) attend the Moving-Up and Graduation Ceremonies at the Cebu City Jail-Female Dormitory in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City on Monday, August 7. (Contributed photo)
Of the total graduates, 37 finished elementary while 108 graduated from junior high school.
Jail Supt. Stephanny Salazar, warden of the facility, said they plan to offer senior high this school year as part of the program of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology (BJMP).
Salazar said the graduates underwent blended learning, a form of holding classes through face-to-face and online sessions.
Under the program, a “mobile teacher” from DepEd would go to the facility to hold classes for one whole day.
“The teacher will be assisted by our personnel who are former teachers before they joined the BJMP,” said Salazar.
Salazar said the program is part of the BJMP’s goal to help the PDLs have a better future.
“Hopefully, when they leave this facility, they can use their diploma. We will do our best to ensure that when they return to the community, there is a big change in their lives,” said Salazar.
The ceremony was also attended by Jail Chief Supt. Neil Avisado, director of BJMP-Central Visayas.
“This is really a good program for those who were not given the opportunity to earn a diploma outside. This gives them the first step to achieve their dreams,” said Avisado.