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Karen Bordador shares lessons from her stay inside Pasig City Jail: ‘It was five years of isolation and working on my core’

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Rhea Manila Santos

<p>While some people may assume that Karen Bordador’s five-year stay inside prison for illegal drugs charges was full of regrets, the 33-year-old former Pinoy Big Brother celebrity housemate chose to look at the silver lining from her experience as an inmate at the Pasig City Jail. </p><p>“Siguro the isolation is really beneficial kasi sa ngayong sitwasyon na ‘to with social media, it’s noisy out here. Na-compare ko na yung nasa loob as compared to here, there’s too much going on. So sa loob I was able to really travel into myself. Kasi siyempre dito sa labas lahat tayo nakatingin kung saan saan eh. Doon sa loob I was really able to internalize and understand why I was created in this world, what’s my purpose, and it’s something that you don’t get to do really. A lot of us are also lost but inside that five years I was able to focus on elevating myself, transforming, writing, doing a lot of sketches, reading so many books. So it was a lot of enriching. Parang it was five years of isolation and working on my core. So I think I’m so grateful for that,” she shared. </p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca8sbKBJyue/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:100px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:60px"> </div></div></div><div style="padding:19% 0"> </div><div 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style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca8sbKBJyue/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Karen Bordador (@karen_bordador)</a></div></div></blockquote><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script><div><a href="https://push.abs-cbn.com/2022/3/9/fresh-scoops/karen-bordador-proud-to-have-her-life-story-featur-1989660"><u><strong>READ: Karen Bordador proud to have her life story featured on MMK: ‘It feels amazingly great!’</strong></u></a></div><p>Aside from making her acting debut on Maalaala Mo Kaya as one of the female inmates who befriends her (with Viral Scandal actress Kaila Estrada playing her in the two-part episode), the 33-year-old model and radio DJ said there is a bigger mission in putting her story out there.</p><p>“My whole story is to inspire people and to let everyone know that we should not judge others from what they hear but directly from the person, knowing their story immediately and it’s bad to cancel. Cancel culture when I found out when I got out it’s rampant, it’s too much. People should not judge others definitely. Because it can put them in a really bad situation. Look at my situation. I actually got jailed for it. I hope everyone can be more caring and be more loving because we are going through a really bad time. pandemic na nga, huwag na tayo mag-cancel culture guys,” she stressed. </p><div><a href="https://push.abs-cbn.com/2022/3/9/fresh-scoops/karen-bordador-honors-her-mom-norie-on-internation-1989770"><u><strong>READ: Karen Bordador honors her mom Norie on International Women’s Day: ‘She is a hero to me’</strong></u></a></div><p>Through her MMK episode, Karen also hoped to remove the stigma that is attached to everyone who has spent time in jail.</p><p>“I’m here para malaman ng mga tao. I’m here not to fight or to do anything like that but rather to inspire people to help out the system na para mapabilis. At also mawala yung judgment ng mga taong nakakulong, na hindi lahat ng tao na nasa kulungan ay may kasalanan. Na we should give them priority also because nung nasa loob ako ng kulungan there was rarely help and the facility was not at par. Ang 35 na dapat population ng selda it plummeted up to 80. I experienced a situation wherein it’s not even supposed to be that way so I want to open the eyes of people, people that matter, people that can contribute to helping out all the prisoners and possibly hastening and hopefully madaming mapalabas dahil dito and makatulong ako sa sistema,” she explained. </p><div><a href="https://push.abs-cbn.com/2022/3/11/fresh-scoops/kaila-estrada-plays-karen-bordador-in-maalaala-mo-199001"><u><strong>READ: Kaila Estrada plays Karen Bordador in Maalaala Mo Kaya: ‘It was truly an honor’</strong></u></a></div><p>When asked for her observations regarding the Philippine justice system, Karen admitted that she had a lot of time to think about what can be done to improve the system.</p><p>“Well I believe na it’s very slow and clearly it’s not fair. But that’s life. What can we do? We are in the situation. So I’m here. Generally, increasing more judges, having more public attorneys that would really fight for their clients. When I say clients, I mean yung mga detainees. And having more budget or maybe allocating the budget and using it for what it should be (used for). For me kasi being in prison is not to punish, yes it would be for punishment but also empowering the people inside, giving them a better outlook about life. Kasi many of them are not educated at all. Kaya sila napupunta sa loob. They’re even unaware bakit sila nasa loob. Maybe let’s start off sa very first unit that we have which is our family. Having core values in our family, giving education to our children, and being able to bring them in a good environment. I think that’s firstly what we should do. And then the justice system will  follow through. So start off with your family first,” she said. </p><p>Watch <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/maalaalamokaya"><em><strong>Maalaala Mo Kaya</strong></em></a> on A2Z, <em>Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live on YouTube, ABS-CBN Entertainment Facebook page, and iWantTFC</em>. Outside the Philippines, it is available on cable and IPTV via The Filipino Channel. Starring Kaila Estrada, Lou Yanong, Shamaine Buencamino, and Karen Bordador. Directed by Raz dela Torre</p>

Karen Bordador made her acting debut in Maalaala Mo Kaya’s International Women’s Month special on her life story. 