Major Rehabilitation Programs

One of the goals of Parole and Probation Administration is to promote the correction and
rehabilitation of offenders by providing them with individualized treatment in community
based settings and reducing the incidence of recidivism." In its rehabilitation initiative,
PPA employs the Community-Based treatment through a three pronged intervention such
as:
a. Restorative Justice (RJ) as the Philosophical Framework.
b. Therapeutic Community (TC) as its treatment modality of choice.
c. Volunteerism as the lead community resource.

Harmonization of Three Programs

The integration of the three programs is depicted by the diagram of the umbrella
(See Figure 4). The rod holding up the umbrella represents RJ which is the philosophical
foundation of the agency mission and provides the unifying principle for all rehabilitation
activities integrated within the TC modality.67
The five-paneled canopy represents the TC Modality with its five distinct but
overlapping categories of activities for offenders' reformation and rehabilitation. While
the two figures holding up the umbrella represent the PPO and the VPA who work
collaboratively in order to bring about the social transformation of offenders, victims and
community (Co, 2018).
Objective of PPA's Rehabilitation Program
The main objective of PPA's Rehabilitation Program is to effect the rehabilitation
and reintegration of probationers, parolees, pardonees, and first-time minor drug
offenders as productive, law-abiding and socially responsible members of the community
through":
• Well-planned supervision programs for probationers, parolees, pardonees, and
first-time minor drug offenders which are aligned to national program thrusts of
the government, such as, the Sariling-Sikap, Jail Decongestion, etc.

• Establishment of innovative and financially and technically feasible projects for

the moral, spiritual and economic upliftment of probationers, parolees, pardonees,
and first- time minor drug offenders utilizing available community resources.
Therapeutic Community Modality
Therapeutic Community Modality (TCM) is a self-help social learning
treatment model used for clients with problems of drug abuse and other behavioral
problems such as alcoholism, stealing, and other anti-social tendencies (PPA, n.d.). It
utilizes the TC Family/Community of staff (PPOS and VPAS) and clients as the primary
therapeutic vehicle to foster behavioral and attitudinal change. Its rules and norms, shared
beliefs, tools and processes combine to enable clients to actively work toward their
individual goals for "right living."9

What is a Therapeutic Community?

Therapeutic Community (TC) is an environment that helps people get help
while helping others. It is a treatment environment, where the interactions of its members
are designed to be therapeutic within the context of the norms that require for each to
play the dual role of client-therapist. At a given moment, one may be in a client role when
receiving help or support from others because of a problem behavior or when
experiencing distress. At another time, the same person assumes a therapist role when
assisting or supporting another person in trouble.

Five Treatment Categories

1. Relational/Behavior Management
• Clients are expected to be (Co, 2018):
-Integrated into the community:
-Upright, law-abiding.productive
-Maintains family solidarity, and
-Take concrete steps to repair the damage done to the victim, family & community
2. Affective/Emotional/ Psychological
• Clients are expected to be (Co, 2018):
- Self-respecting:
-Responsible;
-Respectable; and
-Personally effective.
3. Cognitive/Intellectual
• Clients are expected to be (Co, 2018):
- Functionally literate;
-Can read, write, compute, analyze, discern;
-Use other thought processes, and
-Can apply what he has learned.

4. Spiritual
• Clients are expected to be (Co, 2018):
- Integral person
-Practices truthfulness, openness, righteousness.
-Quality of being complete, unimpaired;
-Of sound moral principle;
-Value system in harmony with the Divine Law.

5. Psychomotor/Vocational-Survival Skills
*Clients are expected to (Co, 2018):
- Demonstrates self-sufficiency
-To have a right income, right employment, right living.

Therapeutic Community Modality Intervention Strategies

Therapeutic Community Modality provides a well-defined structure for a
synchronized and focused implementation of the various intervention strategies/activities
undertaken by the PPA this includes (PPA, n.d.):
A. Individual and Group Counseling
Its goal is to assist the clients in trying to sort out their problems, identify
solutions, reconcile conflicts and help resolve them. This could be done either by
individual or group interaction with the officers of the PPA.
B. Moral, Spiritual, Values Formation
This includes seminars, lectures or training offered and arranged by the PPA.
Active NGOs, schools, civic and religious organizations are tapped to facilitate the
activities.

C. Work or Job Placement/Referral

It is an informal program wherein a client is referred for work or job placement
through the officer's own personal effort, contact or information.

D. Vocational/Livelihood and Skills Training

This includes seminars and skills training classes like food preservation and
processing, candle making, novelty items and handicrafts making, etc., to help the clients
earn extra income. Likewise, vocational and technical trade classes are available such as
refrigeration, automotive mechanics, radio/ television and electronics repairs, tailoring,
dressmaking. basic computer training, etc, through coordination with local barangays,
parish centers, schools and civic organizations.

E. Health, Mental and Medical Services

These are medical missions that are organized to provide various forms of medical
and health services including physical examination and treatment, free medicines and
vitamins, dental examination and treatment, drug dependency test and laboratory
examination.
This also includes psychological testing and evaluation as well as psychiatric
treatment that are provided for by the Agency's Clinical Services Division and if not
possible by reason of distance, referrals are made to other government accredited
institutions.

F. Literacy and Education

In coordination with LGU programs, adult education classes are available to help
clients learn basic writing, reading and arithmetic. Likewise, literacy teach-ins during any
sessions conducted for clients become part of the module. This is particularly intended
for clients who are "no read, no write" to help them become functionally literate.
G. Community Service
It refers to the services in the community rendered by clients for the benefit of
society. It includes tree planting. beautification drives, cleaning and greening of
surroundings, maintenance of public parks and places, garbage collection, blood donation
and similar socio-civic activities.

H. Client Self-Help Organization

This program takes the form of cooperatives and client associations wherein the
clients form cooperatives and associations as an economic group to venture on small-
scale projects. Similarly, client associations serve another purpose by providing some
structure to the lives of clients where they re-learn the basics of working within a group
with hierarchy. authority and responsibility much like in the bigger society.

I. Payment of Civil Liability

The payment of civil liability or indemnification to victims of offenders are
pursued despite the economic status of clients. Payment of obligations to the victims
instills in the minds of the clients their responsibility and the consequences of the harm
they inflicted to others.

J. Environment and Ecology

These seminars/lectures tackle anti-smoke belching campaigns, organic farming,
waste management, segregation and disposal and proper care of the environment. Its
objective is to instill awareness and concern in preserving ecological balance and
environmental health, seminars/lectures are conducted wherein clients participate.

K. Sports and Physical Fitness

These are activities that provide physical exertion like sports, games and group
play are conducted to enhance the physical well being of clients. Friendly competition of
clients from the various offices of the sectors, together with the officers, provide an
enjoyable and healthful respite.
Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or
revealed by criminal behavior. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that
include all stakeholders." Restorative justice differs from contemporary criminal justice
in several ways, namely (Prison Fellowship International, 2005):
1. It views criminal acts more comprehensively rather than defining crime as
simply lawbreaking, it recognizes that offenders harm victims, communities and
even themselves;
2. It involves more parties in responding to crime rather than giving key roles only
to government and the offender, it includes victims and communities as well; and
3. It measures success differently rather than measuring how much punishment is
inflicted, it measures how much harm is repaired or prevented.
According to PPA, Restorative Justice is a process through which remorseful offenders
accept responsibility for their misconduct, particularly to their victims and to the
community Through proactive involvement of victims, ownership of the offender of the
crime and the community in search for solutions; it creates an obligation to make things
right, and promote repair, reconciliation and reassurance (PPA. n.d.).
The Philippines is a member-country of the Commission on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice, thus it adopted the resolution of the Basic Principles on the Use of
Restorative Justice Programs in Criminal Matters"

Basic Elements of Restorative Justice

A restorative effort is a holistic response to crime or conflict which needs to be attended
to in all these relationships to be able to strengthen community fabric. The repairing
relationships of stakeholders do not mean creating a friendly and positive attitude
between them. It means restoring appropriate "balance of power" among stakeholders."
The basic elements of Restorative Justice are (PPA, 2017):

1. Encounter
It creates opportunities for victims, offenders and community members who want
to meet and discuss the crime and its aftermath:
2. Amends
It expects offenders to take steps to repair harm they have caused to their victims;

3. Reintegration
It seeks to restore victims and offenders as a whole and help them become
contributing members of society; and

4. Inclusion
Provides opportunities for parties with a stake in a specific crime to participate in
the resolution.

Goals of Restorative Justice

The primary objective of Restorative Justice (RJ) is to repair the harm. The
criminal justice professional applying the RJ philosophy needs to understand the impact
of crime on the victims, and the latter's family and future. By helping the victim the
system can:
-Exert efforts to appropriately respond to the victim's harm:
-Accordingly hold offenders accountable;
-Reduce the victimization of the victim again;
-Improve active involvement and cooperation of the victim; and
-Protect and empower victims.
-Benefits of Restorative Justice
According to PPA the advantages of Restorative Justice as part of Rehabilitation process
are as follows (PPA, n.d.):
a. Reintegration of the offenders to the social mainstream and encouraging them to
assume active responsibility for the injuries inflicted to the victims;
b. Proactive involvement of the community to support and assist in the rehabilitation of
victims and offenders:
c. Attention to the needs of the victims, survivors and other persons affected by the crime
as participating stakeholders in the criminal justice system, rather than mere objects or
passive recipients of services of intervention that may be unwanted, inappropriate or
ineffective:
d. Healing the effects of the crime or wrongdoing suffered by the respective stakeholders;
and
e. Prevention of further commission of crime and delinquency.

Principles of Restorative Justice

The core principle of restorative justice according to PPA are (PPA, 2017):
1. Justice requires that we work to restore those who have been injured:
2. Those most directly involved and affected by crime should have the opportunity
to participate fully in the response, if they wish; and
3. Government's role is to preserve a just public order, and the community's role is
to build and maintain a just peace.

Peacemaking Encounter
Peacemaking Encounter is a restorative process employed by the PPA. It is a
community-based gathering that brings the victim, the victimized community, and the
offender together. It supports the healing process of the victims by providing a safe and
controlled setting for them to meet and speak with the offender on a confidential and
strictly voluntary basis. It also allows the offender to learn about the impact of the crime
to the victim and his/her family, and to take direct responsibility for his/her behavior. In
addition to this, it provides a chance for the victim and the offender to forge a mutually
acceptable plan that addresses the harm caused by the crime (PPA, n.d.).
The following processes is being implemented by the PPA's Peacemaking
Encounter as a community-based decision model:

1. Mediation
Often referred to as Victim-Offender-Mediation (VOM). It is a form of
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Typically, a third stakeholder, the moderator,
assists the parties to negotiate a settlement. The moderator may mediate disputes in a
variety of fields, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic,
workplace, community and family matters. This is a process that provides interested
victim/s an opportunity to meet the offender in a safe and structured setting, and engage
in a discussion of the crime.

2. Conferencing
It is a voluntary, structured meeting between offender/s. victim/s and/or both
parties' family and friends, in which they address consequences as restitution and other
outcomes.

3. Circle of Support
It is a model of RJ which provides an opportunity for victims, offenders and community
to discuss the crime, and its aftermath, particularly its effect on the relationships in the
community.

4. Indigenous Practices
Its goal is to preserve, protect and respect Indigenous Practices of DOJ-PPA tribal
clients. PPA adopts and adheres to prescribe mechanisms customary to their beliefs but
ensuring and guaranteeing the due exercise of the concerned tribal community to reject or
allow the intervention, documentation and publication of the DOJ-PPA of the indigenous
conciliation practice undertaken.

Basic Procedures
The following is the stages and basic procedures in undergoing Restorative Justice
according to PPA.

1. Investigation Stage
At this stage, the following steps are observed:
• Orientation of the victim on the restorative Justice concept:
• Getting the victim's version of the offense, and the effect of victimization to their
lives, families, future and plans.
• Obtaining the victims' suggestions on how the damage/harm inflicted by the crime
could be repaired, and healed accordingly.
 All this information should be incorporated in the investigation reports or
Courtesy Investigation (CI). Post- sentence investigation (PSI), and Pre-
parole/executive Clemency Investigation (PPCI) to be submitted to the concerned
offices by the DOJ-PPA. Moreover, on this report the victim will manifest whether or
not he/she is amenable to the grant of probation of the petitioner and state the
corresponding reasons. It is advisable to gather information if reconciliation is
possible with the petitioner (PPA, 2017).

2. Supervision Stage
The Restorative Justice Program such as payment of civil liability or any
Restorative Justice outcome as a result of an Restorative Justice process during this
stage could be part of the condition of client's release or probation conditions, and
should be incorporated in his My Personal Development Plan (MPDP) previously
called Supervision Treatment Plan (STP) (PPA, 2017). At the supervision stage:
• The parties should be brought within the program of their own free will. Parties
should have the right to seek legal advice before and after the restorative process;
• Before agreeing to participate in the restorative process, the parties should be fully
informed of their rights, the nature of the process, and the possible consequences
of their decision;
• Neither the victim nor the offender should be induced by unfair means to
participate in restorative justice processes or outcomes,
• If there is no agreement can be made between the parties, the case should be
withdrawn from the restorative process;
• In the event agreement was reached by parties. this should be put in writing to give
substance/ essence to the agreement. The failure to implement any provision of the
agreement made in the course of the restorative process is a basis for the
withdrawal of the case from the program: and
• Discussions and disclosures made during the process shall be treated with strict
confidentiality and shall be disclosed and used against the parties involved.

3. Supervision Process with Restorative Justice Impact

A Probation and Parole Officer (PPO) individually assigned to handle
investigation and supervision caseloads shall act as restorative justice planner. The
following are the responsibilities of a PPO:
- Identifies and recommends to Chief Probation and Parole Officer (CPPO) a
potential case for Peacemaking Encounter,
 - Conducts dialogue to explore together the possibility of restorative justice process;
- Coordinates/collaborates with responsible members and leaders of community for
their participation in the conference;
- Serves as facilitator-strength in the conference;
- Assists in the healing process of stakeholders based on the MPDP; and
- Prepares casenotes reflective of restorative justice values and anchored on
following points:
o Impact of crime and effect of victimization;
o Victim inputs and involvement opportunities; and
o Offender opportunity to take direct responsibility for the harm.

A Chief Probation and Parole Officer (CPPO) has the following responsibilities:
- Approves case for Peace Encounter conference and issues office order, and
- Monitors plansand agreementfor implementation achieved during the conference
and sets direction to realize success of the process.

A Volunteer Probation Aides (VPAs) has the following responsibilities as assigned or

designated by the CPPO or Officer-in-Charge (OIC):
- Works in close consultation and cooperation with the Supervising Officer in the conduct
of RJ process,
- Keeps all information about the supervisee in strict confidentiality.
- Makes reports of activities in relation to the RJ process,
- Denotes a substantial and quality time for supervision of clients;
- Acts as resource individual, donor, lecturer, speaker, organizer, coordinator, facilitator,
mediator and planner for RJ activities;
- As may be deputized, secures Circle of Support venue and provides refreshments, etc.
when assigned to supervise clients;
- Endeavors to heal the victim, client and community relationships; and
- Attends RJ activities as may be required.
4. Procedural Safeguards
The following is the safeguards in the Restorative Justice Procedure according to PPA
(PPA, 2017):
a. The DOJ-PPA clients must admit the offense to be eligible for the conference, and if
possible, they should be encouraged to take full responsibility:
b. A personal visit by the RJ planner may be necessary to solicit interest and willingness
of stakeholders to participate in the restorative process;
c. The victims' preference for the time, date and place of the meeting should be given
greatest weight;
d. RJ planners should also get in touch with the community strengths to serve as
facilitators such as local officials, members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa or any
responsible and respected personalities in the locality.
e. A pre-conference meeting with the selected facilitators prior to the actual conduct of
Peace Encounter conference should be set to carefully plan for all the details, from the
seating arrangements and refreshments to the box of tissue papers, which incidentally let
participants know that display of emotion is all right;
f. A pre-conference meeting could likewise be arranged separately with individual
stakeholders. to explain the process and other vital details of the conference,
g. RJ planners should ensure that everyone knows how to reach to the location site of the
conference:
h. Facilitators should ensure that the conference shall be conducted without interruption
in a comfortable location and shall secure the safety of all stakeholders;
i. Stakeholders shall be consulted relative to the composition of the panel of facilitators.
Any party may move to oppose the inclusion of persons by reason of relationship, bias,
interest or other similar grounds that may adversely affect the process; and
j. Indigenous systems of settling differences or disputes shall accordingly be recognized
and utilized to conform with the customs and traditions of that particular cultural
community.
Restorative Justice Outcomes
As a result of the restorative justice process, the following outcomes or
interventions may be agreed upon by parties in a Restorative Justice discussion, such as,
but not limited to (PPA, n.d.):

1. Restitution
It is a process upon which the offender accepts accountability for the financial
and/or non-financial losses he/she may have caused to the victim. Restitution is a "core"
victim's right which is very crucial in assisting the redirection of the victim's life. Part of
the conditions of probation as imposed by the Court is the payment of civil liability to
indemnify the victim of the offender, and to inculcate to the offender a sense of
responsibility and obligation towards the community. The PPO should see to it that the
offender complies with this condition (PPA, 2017).

2. Community Work Service

It is a work performed without compensation by the offender for the benefit of the
community as an outcome of a RJ process reached through restorative agreement among
stakeholders (PPA, 2017). In its application, the offender can be subjected to perform
work service measures, including. but not limited to any of the following:
a. Mentoring and Intergenerational Service
Offenders will develop their nurturing needs through caring for other
people; example: with senior citizens, with orphanages, or with street children.

b. Economic Development
Offenders link directly with the business project; examples: cleaning
downtown area, tree planting, maintenance of business zones, housing
restoration, garbage and waste management, cleaning of esteros, recycling,
construction, repair of streets, and the like.

c. Citizenship and Civic Participation

It includes experiential activities which involve solving community
problems; examples: puppet shows that showcase values, street dramas, peer
counseling.
 d. Helping the Disadvantaged
Its goal is to enhance an offender's self esteem; examples: assist
handicapped, assist in soup kitchen, tutor peers, visit the aged in jail and hospitals.

e. Crime Prevention Project

This includes, Brgy. Ronda, and giving testimony to the youth.
The PPO should ensure the adoption of these community work services to
facilitate the reintegration of the offender in the community.

3. Counseling
Counseling whether it is individual, group or family. its goal is to enhance the
client's interpersonal relationship and it will help him/her become more aware of his/her
shortcomings/weaknesses. This will also help him/her overcome painful experiences that
drove him/her to commit a crime/offense.

4. Family Therapy Session

It aims to develop healthy personal relationships within the family and to establish
open positive communication between family members and significant others. Family
members should be