ROTARY CLUB OF SANTA ROSA SOUTH REACHES OUT TO PRISONERS
		RS ROSARIO VELASCO-TATLONGHARI
				January 3,2001
			Rotary Sta.Rosa South
The onset of the Christmas season sets off Christmas carols to be played once more on air, Christmas lights and decorations to be hung and brighten up the streets again. It is also the season
when one Filipino character is rekindled, in accordance with the true spirit of Christmas ? sharing blessings with the less privileged. Like a bug that bites socially conscious individuals, this gesture also brings music and brightness -- to the lives of others.
The Rotary Club of Sta.Rosa South led by its Charter President Rey Anonuevo, in its effort to observe the season with social meaning,  visited the medium security compound of the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) recently. Also known as Sampaguita Camp, the compound has 6,000 inmates carrying sentences of 20 years or less. The Rotarians trooped to a section of the camp called VISO, or Visitor-less Indigent, Sick and Old.
The Rotarians -- 12 of them, with three bringing along their wives and one letting his son join the activity -- pulled their resources together to reach out to prisoners. They distributed packed lunch and bags with canned goods and personal effects.
Prior to the distribution of packages, Brother Larry Nones conducted the briefing to the Rotarians. Brother Jimmy Munoz, a political detainee, also hosted a program which deeply touched the feelings of their visitors, even moving some to tears.
Munoz delivered his message philosophically by stating that that they might be locked in cold prison walls but might be actually luckier than others, who were out of jail but were experiencing "invisible" prison cells. Others related sad tales of injustice, of wayward lives that were slowly  redirected, of loved ones deserting them.
Age was also something that caught the attention of the Rotarians. A 78-year old was a pitiful sight, while a 13-year old confirmed the legal expose contained in the film "Deathrow", of minors being kept in jail.
As the inmates had been visitor-less, they had been longing for their loved ones. They said  that  in moments of freedom, many tended to take for granted the people around them. "Hug your wives and children for us," declared one, subsequently stirring up emotions.
The Rotarians went home hoping to repeat the activity in another time and to bring along their children as a form of exposure to the realities of society.
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