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PHOTOS
LESTER LEDESMA
A C C I D E N T A L H E R O E S
“
See the hero
in everyone”
Street kids, orphans, and families
whose homes have been washed away
by floods — these are the victims you
won’t think twice about helping. But
jail inmates — with their tattoos and
couldn’t-care-less attitudes — are a
tough sell as a cause.
Not for Chary Mercado, who
volunteers as a tutor for the Alternative
Learning System (ALS) of the DepEd
at a local city jail, where inmates have
been arrested but not yet convicted
of crime. “Many languish here for
years while their cases putter their
way through the Philippine justice
system. By the time many of them
receive a guilty verdict, they’ve already
effectively served the sentence.” For
the acquitted, there is no way to recover
the lost credibility and wasted time.
Together with her friends Maricen
Jalandoni, Leah Puyat and Risa
Garcia, Mercado teaches 25 inmates
who join the ALS to prepare to take an
elementary or high school equivalency
test every October. None of them are
educators, but have a common goal.
“
We’re there to teach skills,” says
Mercado. The psychic rewards come
from seeing the students take their
work seriously, ask questions, and
move through lessons enthusiastically.
“
I like sharing what I’ve learned and
perhaps help give them a better
life when they get out — even if I
never hear from them again,” adds
Jalandoni, a retired senior executive.
The work also keeps her mind sharp,
what with reviewing and preparing
lessons. “And I’m learning a new skill
—
teaching.” For Puyat, teaching was
a childhood dream she never pursued
till now.
The fact that they’re all friends
makes the cause enjoyable and
sustainable. Housewife Risa Garcia
got into teaching because of Mercado,
whom she’s known since grade school.
“
Volunteering is contagious and brings
out the good in people. Ironically, I find
it to be one of the most selfish things
one can do. For me, few things come
close to how happy the act of helping
others makes me feel.”
“
People always ask us if we are
scared,” Puyat says. “But it is scarier to
just sit and do nothing.”
Aside from teaching, friends
(
from left) Risa Garcia, Maricen
Jalandoni, Chary Mercado and
Leah Puyat helped the inmates
start a sewing business
