Former druggie Marissa Basa has this advice to users of illegal drugs: don’t waste your life and time.
The 36-year-old from Bagbag, Novaliches, Quezon City practices what she preaches, vowing not to return to jail. She shuns invites to sniff meth.
Basa spent three years in jail after police arrested her during a drug raid in 2020, she recalls.
She admitted during her interview with the DAILY TRIBUNE that she turned to shabu use because of peer pressure, for being an out-of-school youth after her father died and due to poverty. Her mother could barely support her and six other siblings.
At the Quezon City Jail Female Dormitory, Basa changed for the better by turning spiritual and taking up skills training programs offered to detainees starting in October so they can earn a living once they get out of jail.
She took up the Basic Housekeeping Skills Training under Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte’s No Woman Left Behind program supported by SM Hotels & Conventions Corporation (SMHCC), Multi-Access Cooperative and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
The World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance provided the global housekeeping curriculum and SMHCC’s Park Inn by Radisson North EDSA provided a mock room where detainees are trained by the Quezon City Skills and Livelihood Foundation’s TESDA-certified trainer.
Claiming that evidence against her was planted, her case was eventually dismissed. When she was released in February 2025, Park Inn hired her as a housekeeper, becoming the first employee coming from the housekeeping training program for persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
Park Inn’s former general manager Ann Olalo gave Basa money to process all working papers needed for the job.
Basa is happy to be out of jail, drug-free and living with her mother.
“She cooks for me and washes my uniform,” Basa says.
Raycie Gitierrez, the current hotel manager, says that Park Inn by Radisson North EDSA and its partners remain committed to making a meaningful difference by harnessing the newly-found competence of women, including PDLs like Basa.