LOOK: Bonsai beads create opportunities for Ilocos inmates

ILOCOS SUR – Inmates at the provincial jail are making themselves useful by creating crafts that generate income.

Jail guards taught inmates how to make bonsai beads. The inmates do this on their free time and has become a source of income for them.

“May dalawa kasing jail guard na member ng Bonsai Group dito sa Ilocos Sur. Tinuruan nila ang mga inmates, naipamana naman nila ‘yung talent,” said Provincial Jail Warden Raymond Tabios.

Their product, the bonsai beads, has become so in demand that they get orders from big establishments and even for trade fairs.

“Original yung designs naming kasi kung ano yung nasa imagination namin, yun ang ginagawa namin,” said inmate “Boy.”

Every inmate has a task to do from the bead work, or twisting wires, making the cemented stand or the decorations.

The smallest bonsai bead product is sold for as low as P200 while the bigger ones are sold for P800 and above.

Those with designs or landscape can be purchased starting from P2,000.

The inmates’ efforts have been validated when their bonsai beads received the Most Innovative product design award from the Department of Trade and Industry-Ilocos Sur during the last Kannawidan Ylocos Festival.