Beyond Baking: Creating Opportunities through Partnerships

Creating opportunities doesn’t end with teaching a new skill—it multiplies when knowledge is shared, sustained, and passed on.

Pilmico Foods Corporation (Pilmico), an Aboitiz Foods company, believes that sustainable progress is built through collaboration. As Partners for Growth, the company works with partners to share knowledge, build capabilities, and create lasting shared value for the communities it serves.

In Iligan City, this commitment is reflected in Pilmico’s partnership with the Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), turning baking into more than a livelihood skill but an opportunity to empower people to build a better future.

Following the successful Baking Behind Bars program for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), Pilmico and MSU-IIT recently conducted a three-day Baking Beyond Bars workshop for personnel of the Iligan City Jail. The training was designed to strengthen the jail’s capacity to sustain livelihood programs and mentor future batches of PDLs, ensuring that the initiative continues to benefit the community long after the initial training concludes.

The workshop equipped participants with practical knowledge in flour familiarization, food safety, ingredient functionality, product costing, dough handling, and bread-making techniques, along with hands-on sessions on producing breads, pastries, cakes, and cookies. 

For Quality Assurance Technical Supervisor Rodulfo Orong, who led the hands-on training, transferring technical expertise to jail personnel helps establish a stronger foundation for sustainable livelihood training within the facility.

“If participants can share these skills with others, apply them to earn a livelihood, and continue learning beyond the program, then we’ve created something that lasts. That’s what being a Partner for Growth means to us,” said Orong.

For MSU-IIT, the collaboration demonstrates the value of bringing together academia, industry, and government to address community needs. By combining the university’s community extension program with Pilmico’s technical expertise and BJMP’s rehabilitation initiatives, the program empowers PDLs with the skills and tools needed to reintegrate successfully into society.

As BJMP personnel become equipped to mentor future participants, the initiative creates a multiplier effect that strengthens rehabilitation efforts, supports livelihood generation, and enables more PDLs to benefit from practical skills training in the years ahead.

JO3 Walter W. Mainit Jr., Chief of the Welfare and Development Section of the Iligan City Jail, said, “We cannot give what we do not have. That is why we first equip ourselves—so we can, in turn, empower our PDL to rise with knowledge and livelihood.” 

City Jail Warden JCINSP Carmelo A. Corsame likewise emphasized, “Aside from baking, the activity is about building capacity, instilling dignity, and creating opportunities that extend beyond the jail walls.”

When organizations come together with a shared purpose, the impact reaches far beyond a single training session. It creates a ripple effect—one where skills become livelihoods, partnerships become opportunities, and communities become stronger.

Through initiatives like Baking Behind and Beyond Bars, Pilmico continues to demonstrate that responsibility is more than an Aboitiz Foods’ core value. It is a commitment to shared progress through knowledge-sharing, capability building, and community empowerment – nourishing the future, one opportunity at a time.

FAQs:

1. What is the “Baking Beyond Bars” program?

It is a collaborative skills-training initiative to equip the personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology with practical baking knowledge and skills, strengthening the jail’s capacity to sustain livelihood programs and mentor future batches of PDLs. The program is a partnership among Pilmico Foods Corporation, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) through its WE CARE Office, and the BJMP Iligan.

2. What is the goal of Pilmico’s partnership with MSU-IIT and BJMP in Iligan City?

The partnership brings together industry, academia, and government to provide practical baking and livelihood training to Iligan City Jail personnel and Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs). By equipping jail staff with technical expertise, the initiative creates a sustainable mentorship model that supports PDL rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society. 

3. What specific skills and topics are covered in the workshop?

BJMP personnel complete hands-on sessions covering flour familiarization, food safety, ingredient functionality, product costing, dough handling, and bread-making techniques. They also gain practical experience producing a variety of items, including breads, pastries, cakes, and cookies. 

4. How does this initiative create lasting income and community impact?

Training jail personnel ensures that livelihood programs continue over the long term through ongoing mentorship for future PDLs. Furthermore, initiatives like the proposed “Bread on Wheels” project aim to enable PDL families to sell baked goods outside the facility through mobile shops, translating learned skills into real household income.