Wardens sacked

Friday, February 10, 2012

GOV. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday relieved the provincial jail warden and his assistant when she learned that a guard had allowed, without court approval, a former mayor detained in jail to have lunch in a restaurant after his hearing.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) will also ask the court to issue a show cause order against Alfredo Arcenio, the former mayor of Lezo town in Aklan Province, his lawyer Eduardo Arriba and jail guard Edison Ferraren, for them to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court for eating in a restaurant without the court’s permission.

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In her news conference yesterday, Garcia said Algier Comendador and Reynaldo Pepito Jr., warden and assistant warden of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), are incapable of implementing procedures and rules governing prison guards, and should be relieved.

Ferraren escorted Arcenio during a hearing on his murder case last Wednesday morning.
After the hearing, Arcenio and his lawyer ate at a nearby restaurant with Ferraren, who reportedly did not handcuff the former mayor.

Arcenio is accused of shooting a broadcaster to death in 2004.

“Let this serve as a warning. I will not hesitate to release you subject to due process,” the governor said.

She called Comendador to a meeting in her office yesterday afternoon to inform him of his relief.

“I told him about his relief and he accepted that. After all, I’m the official jailer,” Garcia said.

Comendador quietly left Garcia’s office and declined media interviews.

In her order, the governor said Comendador and Pepito will be reassigned to the Civil Security Services Division under her office.

She joked that they may be assigned to the agriculture office where they will plant sweet potatoes, or engage in the Expanded Green and Wholesome Environment that Nurtures (EGwen) program. 

Through a text message, State Prosecutor Hazel Valdez yesterday informed Assistant Regional State Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila that the DoJ will file a pleading to cite the three in contempt of court.

Government prosecutors in Cebu voiced their displeasure yesterday over reports that Arcenio, the suspected gunman in the killing of Bombo Radyo broadcaster Herson “Boy” Hinolan, his lawyer and jail guard ate their lunch in a restaurant outside the Capitol compound without seeking the court’s permission.

Under court procedures, the accused, through his counsel, has to file a pleading in court if he wants to go somewhere after his hearing.

The escort jail guard is to bring the inmate back to his detention cell immediately after his hearing.

But after his court hearing last Wednesday, Arcenio proceeded to a restaurant just
outside the Palace of Justice compound. He was without handcuffs.

The governor said that what happened Wednesday was a clear and flagrant disrespect of CPDRC’s rules.

She said it was not the first time a jail guard granted the wishes of the inmates without a court order.

Whether their incapability to follow rules was “voluntary or involuntary” remains to be seen, she said, because they will be investigated by the committee on discipline and investigation (Codi).

The jail guard will also be investigated.

Garcia said Codi’s recommendation may be immediate suspension.

She asked Codi chairman Lito Astillero to conduct a speedy investigation.

Garcia signed the memorandum for the relief of the jail officers during her press conference yesterday.

Security Agent Napoleon Miranda was designated acting CPDRC warden and prison guard
Romeo Manansala acting assistant warden.

The Province will be opening the two top positions of CPDRC for hiring.

Applicants will be chosen by Capitol’s selection committee.

She also discontinued the service of Capitol consultant on penology, Cesar Veloso, who will be replaced by lawyer Jose Ma. Gastardo, Capitol’s consultant on planning.

Veloso, however, retains his position at the Capitol as consultant on security.

Video footage of TV5 showed Arcenio, his lawyer Arriba and the jail guard and another companion eating their lunch in Sabel’s Restaurant beside the Capitol compound.

Lawyer Consolacion Lape, clerk of court of the Regional Trial Court Branch 16, said yesterday that presiding Judge Sylva Paderanga has been informed of the matter.

Also, Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Gandhi Truya said he will wait for the state prosecutor’s action before he makes his own legal move.

Truya said it was not the first time Arcenio broke court rules.

Truya said the former mayor also went out of jail after he was allowed by the court to register in his hometown during the 2010 elections.

He recalled that he had opposed Arcenio’s bid because it would set a bad precedent to other inmates. The court, however, granted Arcenio’s motion.

Prosecutor Avila, chief of the DoJ’s Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program (WPSBP), also said Arcenio’s counsel should have been “prudent enough” not to put his client and the jail guard in trouble just to satisfy his client’s needs.

Avila told reporters that the incident was “not normal” and that the public might perceive CPDRC as one that gives special treatment to moneyed and influential prisoners.

Arcenio took the witness stand last Wednesday morning for the continuation of his direct examination before Judge Paderanga.

Paderanga is hearing the case after the Supreme Court ordered in 2008 the transfer of the case from the Aklan trial court to Cebu.

Arcenio, a former military officer, is detained at CPDRC while his murder case is being tried.

In his testimony, Arcenio denied he shot to death Hinolan for attacking him in his
radio program over alleged anomalies of his administration.

“Hindi ko kayang pumatay ng tao dahil meron din naman akong pangalan na iniingatan (I am not capable of killing anyone because I also have a name to protect),” Arcenio told the court.  

Arcenio said he was home when the shooting happened on Nov. 13, 2004.

He also labeled as “false testimony” and “all lies” the affidavit of a witness who pinpointed him as the gunman.