Tacloban City (March 6) --- About 67 civic minded individuals from Tacloban City and from several other municipalities in the first District of Leyte responded to the call of Tacloban City Parole and Probation Office to become its volunteers who could assist the office in the rehabilitation of its clients.

Ms. Jeannette Avorque, Information Officer of DOJ-PPA Region 8, informed that in order to prepare the newly recruited volunteers for the task ahead of them, the Tacloban City Parole and Probation Office conducted a Basic Training for Volunteer Probation Aides on February 19, 2009 at the Kanhuraw Convention Center, Tacloban City.

The newly-trained 67 volunteers will join the eighty-one Volunteer Probation Aides of Tacloban City PPO, fourteen of whom are supervising forty-one clients of the office or 17.5% of 234, the total number of clients as of December 2008.

The other VPAs are called resource volunteers. They do not supervise clients but they offer their services and resources. A VPA can supervise a maximum of five clients, Ms. Avorque said.

The newly trained volunteers were oriented on the Criminal Justice System; Probation, Parole, Executive Clemency and other pertinent special laws; Code of Ethics; Volunteer Probation System in the Philippines; and Community Resource Development. The other topics which were discussed are "Dignity of Man," "Communication," "Interviewing Skills," and "Helping Process."

All the topics were handled by the entire staff of Tacloban City PPO led by Chief Carolina R. Corpin, who expressed her gratitude to the participants for heeding the call to render voluntary work for the benefit of the clients, which will ultimately benefit the community.

The training was realized in coordination with the City Government of Tacloban through Mayor Alfred Romualdez which provided financial assistance aside from the free use of venue and audio-visual equipment.

First District of Leyte Congressman Martin G. Romualdez congratulated TCPPO for the laudable undertaking through Ms. Betty Culas who graced the event in his behalf.