Ninong Ry Cooks for Persons Deprived of Liberty (NACOCOW 2022)

My three bosses all took a leave of absence at the same time, so I'm alone in the office today. I also don't have any tasks for today, so I'll just answer phone calls and nothing else. So I decided to open my phone's YouTube app and started watching cooking vlogs of Ninong Ry. I'm a fan since, I think 2021. I was intrigued by the title, "Ninong Ry nagluto sa preso," and thought, "This is interesting.", It was uploaded on October 25, 2022. I sat back and watched it once it loaded.

Ninong Ry was invited to cook for the inmates by one of the advocates, Ms. Karen Bordador for the National Correctional Consciousness Week (NACOCOW) that takes place in city jails. The observance is mandated by Proclamation 551 issued by then-President Fidel Ramos that declares every last week of October.

I'm glad there's a program like this for them to improve their well-being and foster better relationships with BJMP personnel. According to the program, there will be a sports festival for inmates, a medical and dental mission, free legal consultations, a comedy and talent show, inmate rights orientation, bloodletting, and other activities.

I noticed in the first part of the video that they allotted 24 hours to roast the 70 kilos of chicken, prepare the ingredients, tenderize the 82 kilos of beef, and prepare the hygiene kits for 350 people. That's a lot of people!

Ninong Ry and his team arrived at the San Juan City Jail. The authorities led them to the spacious kitchen. There are also staff in that kitchen who are also detained there. They also mentioned that a cook in prison can only serve three years. I'm not sure if they get paid for doing the job, but I hope so.

Those cooks are skilled enough and easy to instruct to help Ninong Ry with the preparation of the Caldereta sauce and the blanching of the Bean Sprout. They're also a huge help in determining whether what they cook is enough for 350 people. Another thing I noticed was Ninong Ry's quick thinking in creating a procedure for packing and distributing the food packs. The system is smooth as planned and not chaotic.

When they were finished, they distributed the food packs. That made my heart melt. I literally burst into tears when I saw everyone smiling and constantly thanking the team. Some people are very old, some are very young, and some are disabled (PWDs). I could feel the scorching heat of that jail just by looking at it on the screen. There are four triple bunk beds, and I believe there are between 30 and 60 people in one room. I can't imagine how they deal with it on a regular basis.

At the end of the video, I learned that there is an authorized person in a private sector called a Restorative Justice Program Officer who is in charge of the healing between the detainee and the victim of the crime. He serves as a go-between for the detainee and the victim in order to reconcile their broken relationship and move forward.

In addition, there are three types of prisons. I don't know exactly what it's called, but I do the best I can. The first is detention for those under investigation, the second is the city jail for those awaiting or undergoing trial and sentenced three years and below, and the third is correctional for those awaiting final judgment.

They stated that detainees in City Jail with sentences of three years or less are not well applied, and that these people may sometimes extend their time inside the jail because of an array of causes. The main reason could be that the detainee is poor and cannot afford to hire a private attorney to fix their papers and to coordinate on their behalf. Second, due to the limited number of judges in the Philippines, the judge were unable to attend the hearing sometimes, causing the detainees' release to be delayed, causing the jail to become highly populated.

I can't get one thing out of my head. It is the Plea Bargaining. This is the negotiation of a deal between a prosecutor and a defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge. We are all aware that there are innocent people incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Instead of standing firm for the truth, they are admitting the accusations in order to reduce the sentence and move the case forward which is sad.

I'm at a loss for words right now. I'd like to thank Ninong Ry for doing this, even though he didn't know me and won't be able to see this article. This is no ordinary act of kindness; it is a momentous one! He showed me that there is a world beyond what we see on TV and the internet. I truly wish the best for those people and hope that one day the Philippines' justice system will improve and the government will focus on what is truly important.

Lead image from: Ninong Ry