Ray of Hope Village: Apicture of god's love

Ray of Hope Village: A Picture of God’s Love

(By: JO3 Jorge T Gregorio)

“Splendid, fantastic, amazing and perhaps to some it’s unbelievable… first-ever,

one of a kind home-type jail. Yes this is a picture of god’s love!”

From a mere dream to a humble reality, comes an ever inspiring story of how the “Ray of Hope Village”-Davao City Female Jail – was realized.

                Asking how the common jails look like is something we can easily describe. Crowded, unsanitary, smelly, a dilapidated structure, unsecured facility, and deprived of support from the community, so to speak. For others, it’s the definition of hell, a dungeon for criminals and offenders. That was probably the Davao City Female Jail looked like.

                Until a well-admired and innovative female jail wardress assumed her post in sometime 2005, everything had changed dramatically. The old jail facility has become a more sustained humane safekeeping and development haven for inmates today.

                In my 10 years in the jail service, never I have seen and visited a 5,400sqms BJMP jail facility without a cell until I was assigned in Davao City, the heart of Mindanao.

                “Ray of Hope Village” the new name for the rehabilitation facility is, of course, exclusive for female inmates.

                 Like a home in a sub-division housing project, inmates are living in a casual village with a secured perimeter fence managed by a highly trained yet courteous and accommodating BJMP female Jail Officers.

                Around are plant life and a well lighted fence with a landscape of attractive flora that catches your eyes. It is well ventilated and spacious- enough to cater recreational activities. A fascinating ambiance and aura of the place would surely make your visit exciting.

                Instead of cells, there are artistic and colorful houses, like “bahay ni Kuya” built to accommodate up to I5 bakasyunista.

                There are 20 houses of uniform design and structure. At present, there are 118 bakasyunista, 5 of whom are serving sentence while others are awaiting trial.

                Houses are so designed to fit the needs of female detainees with a home-like aura; with decorative grills instead of paralleled line bars which provides enough ventilations and fresh air; with separate bath and comfort room and lavatory; lockers for each inmate and personal belongings; water source from local water district and service water pumps.

 Like many other tourist destinations in Mindanao, the Ray of Hope Village has been flooded by foreign and local tourists to visit and take the glimpse on how the village became famous. Added attraction to your visit is how you are going to be entertained by inmates. Fine crafted articles and souvenir items like bags, miniatures, clothing, wall decors, are available.

                Behind this historic milestone is a female Wardress SINSP GRACE TACULIN who is known for her innovative leadership and skills. In fact, she was awarded and a recipient of “2007 Best Female Jail Wardress”.

                According to her, the village was the result of the collaborative effort and a constant dialogue between the advocates and the BJMP Davao City Jail. “Of course I cannot do this without the full support of the Regional office and the BJMP National Headquarters, in the process, I was just an instrument.” She humbly said.

                With God’s grace and intervention, the BJMP, Gawad Kalinga, NCCC CARES, and the City Government of Davao under the leadership of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, NGOs and religious organizations shared their resources to build this facility.

                Winning the hearts and sympathy of the village’s benefactors are not so easy for the female jail warden. She painstakingly made it with her cordial and untiring effort by continuously constructing bridges with the service providers like NGOs and the City Government of Davao.

                The 8.86 million worth jail facility cannot just be realized without their generosity.

                Indeed, building bridges is not an easy task. This is why only very few jail wardens could hardly do the same job. These are skills which cannot just be acquired overnight. It requires strong passion to serve and desire to make things happen. Strong personality coupled with actions greatly help more than words.

                For her, a jail warden is like a hard-working and active community worker who shares unselfish services to the community without expecting returns so that, according to her, God will “GRACE” her beyond her expectation.

                Today, the Ray of Hope Village remains an inspiration- a proof of novelty, industry, and hard-work worthy of emulation by others. 

 Please include attached picture of Ray of Hope Village, thank you very much sir