The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has allocated PHP1.4 million to help sustain the livelihood project for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) inside the facility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in this capital town of Antique.

DOST Antique provincial director Eleazer Salvador Moscoso said in an interview on Friday that the fund will be for the procurement of additional equipment and materials for the second quarter of 2026.

“We have a project, Holistic Opportunities and People’s Empowerment (HOPE), with the BJMP aimed to equip the PDLs with the necessary skills and opportunities for their successful reintegration into society upon their release,” Moscoso said.

The project is implemented under DOST’s Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program in partnership with the University of Antique (UA) –College of Industrial Technology and the BJMP.

The UA-CIT trained the PDLs on bread and pastry making. The products are marketed through their bakery enterprise, Pandekosa Baquery, which they established in 2023, and with the help of their families.

“DOST is providing additional equipment and materials such as proofing pans, refrigerator chiller, baking trays and storage containers that the PDLs need in their bakery,” Moscoso said.

The PDLs will undergo training on product standardization and quality assurance for food safety compliance, shelf-life testing of bakery products, and entrepreneurship and marketing.

“The entrepreneurship and marketing training among the PDLs is intended to capacitate them to do costing and inventory of their products, packaging and labeling, and basic marketing strategies so they could sell their products in the local markets, pasalubong (souvenir) shop, and online,” Moscoso said.

The DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute will also introduce technologies, like the enhanced nutribun, in partnership with the UA-Sibalom campus. (PNA)