LU Parolees, Probationers Join Project ECHO

To promote environmental sustainability, the Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU) conducted “Project ECHO (Ecobricking Challenge at Home is On!)” at the Department of Justice – Parole and Probation Office on August 24, 2020 through the Office of the Provincial Governor – Environment and Natural Resources Unit (OPG-ENRU).

Project ECHO was created to encourage the residents to stay at home and make ecobrick-ready bottles during the quarantine period in a bid to combat CoViD-19 at the same time keeping the community plastic litter-free. With the success of the project, it was brought to the Department of Justice – Parole and Probation Office for livelihood of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) while they serve their sentence.

A total of 100 parolees and probationers from the first district of La Union benefited in the said project. During the ecobrick-exchange activity, Chief Probation and Parole Officer Bernaditha Cacho; Senior Probation and Parole Officer Constancia Agoot; Senior Probation and Parole Officer Krista Charisma Oenesa; Senior Probation and Parole Officer Jennifer Villafranca; Probation and Parole Officer II Sayra Valdez; and Administrative Aide IV Raul Pilipina presented the ecobrick-ready bottles of their clients to OPG-ENRU.

According to Senior Probation and Parole Officer Agoot, clients were very delighted to receive bags of rice in exchange of the ecobrick-ready bottles they made. Each client took about two weeks to make one ecobrick-ready bottle out of their own household wastes. A total of 232 kgs of rice were given to the participants exchanged from 115 ecobrick-ready bottles.

This project initiated by the OPG-ENRU is part of the solid waste management strategic initiative of the office under the incentivized waste diversion program called “Basura para sa Bigas” wherein ecobricks are collected from individuals and then exchanged to bags of rice.

The PGLU recognizes the contributions of Persons Deprived of Liberty in preserving the environment in the province. With these kinds of programs, the PGLU looks forward in bringing better quality of life for the people.

– Diana E. Jutba, GPC-ENRU