By: Mario Bautista
WE WATCHED the first episode of ANC's "Storyline" for its third season and we were moved by the touching true story of Mario Aligayda in Bacolod. A product of a broken home, he was only 9 when he started working as a lookout for a robbery gang. They were all caught and he was imprisoned inside a cell in Handumanan jail with 21 other adult criminals. He would have been damaged for life with his life there but a social worker took pity on him and took him to Bahay Pag-asa, the PLDT-sponsored juvenile center founded by Bro. Gus Boquer, president of La Salle Dasmarinas.
WE WATCHED the first episode of ANC's "Storyline" for its third season and we were moved by the touching true story of Mario Aligayda in Bacolod. A product of a broken home, he was only 9 when he started working as a lookout for a robbery gang. They were all caught and he was imprisoned inside a cell in Handumanan jail with 21 other adult criminals. He would have been damaged for life with his life there but a social worker took pity on him and took him to Bahay Pag-asa, the PLDT-sponsored juvenile center founded by Bro. Gus Boquer, president of La Salle Dasmarinas.
Unschooled, Mario is no read-no write when he joined Bahay Pag-asa. There, he was given proper education with spiritual guidance and now, at 15, Mario has been cleared of the robbery charges against him. He has chosen to stay in Bahay Pag-asa to teach other young wards there.
"Bahay Pag-asa is a house of hope for boys who have committed crimes and for whom there seem to be no more hope," says Bro. Gus. "If we won't help them, they become hardened criminals with no future. It's in Bahay Pag-asa that they discover their potential, like Mario Aligayda who turned out to be a gifted mathematician and also plays the piano. We also help them to think positive and become more prayerful. We're thankful that PLDT Smart is now supporting our project."
"Our chairman, Manny Pangilinan, wants to put up a Bahay Pag-asa in all the country's various regions," says PLDT representative Butch Jimenez who has previously produced a film about kids in jail, "Deathrow", that won the Urian best actor award for Eddie Garcia. "It's estimated that there are now 50,000 children in prisons and we have to help them hope for a better tomorrow through Bahay Pag-asa. We now want to foster awareness that there's hope if we in society will help rehabilitate these kids for better opportunities. PLDT Smart will soon start a text campaign for the public to help Bahay Pag-asa raise funds."
You can watch the story of Mario and Bahay Pag-asa in ANC's "Storyline" this Friday at 6 and 11 PM, with replay on SUnday at 3 PM. Produced and written by public speaking champ Patricia Evangelista and directed by Paolo Villaluna ("Ilusyon", "Walang Hanggang Paalam"), "Storyline" shows stories of hope and courage of the human spirit without any permanent host.
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