CEBU CITY - Aiming to enhance its volunteerism program, the Parole and Probation Administration (PPA) is currently holding in-country training here to push for a holistic approach in line with its volunteer resource development.
PPA Training Division Chief Cecilia Dela Cruz bared that the program is part of the technical cooperation training project of the PPA and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JAICA) which is also pushing restorative justice in the society.
The week-long training that started Tuesday is being attended by 24 volunteer probation officers from Visayas and Mindanao at this city's Grand Hotel.
"The training not only promotes volunteerism but also emphasizes the important role of community participation in the rehabilitation of our clients comprised of parolees, probationers and pardoned individuals," said dela Cruz.
Meanwhile, Rene Remollo, probation officer of Tanjay who is also a national officer of the Volunteer Probation Aide (VPA) added that through the training, they hope to encourage more individuals to become one of the VPAs in order to hit the one-is-to-one ratio target.
"For clients to be regularly supervised, we need one volunteer per client," he said.
Earlier, Ceres Heromo, PPA 7 Information Officer disclosed that currently, the number of VPAs in the region is still way far from its target because of 3,075 clients last year, only 1,613 are directly supervised by VPAs
"Our ambitious dream is to have a one-is-to-one rating because as of the moment, we are still having the one-is-to-five ratio where a VPA supervises at least five clients in the community," Heromo explained.
She also added that the agency is gearing to at least double its recruitment this year by strengthening its information dissemination drive.
Last year, PPA7 was able to recruit more than 900 individuals who underwent seminars and trainings, aside from 787 appointed VPAs prescribed by the Department of Justice (DoJ).
