|
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
2 jail guards collect cash, blame superiors’ orders
By Karlon N. Rama
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
NBI agents arrested two Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) jail guards allegedly caught receiving money from an operative posing as a relative wanting to visit an inmate inside.
Jail Officers 1 Eiveht Sy and Mencho Landero burst into tears when taken into custody near the detention center’s main gates late yesterday afternoon, as fellow guards and the relatives of the other inmates watched.
“We were just following orders. We would not have done such a thing if we weren’t told to do so by our own superiors inside the jail,” Sy said in a subsequent interview at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 headquarters.
Warden
BBRC Jail Warden Teofilo Labating Jr. was not available for comment when reached via mobile phone last night.
But in an interview with reporters, both Sy and Landero were adamant in saying that the jail warden, if not authorized, at least knew of the collections.
They said the management justifies the collection by saying there isn’t any support at all from both the Cebu City Government and their mother unit to run the penal facility properly. The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology belongs under the Department of Interior and Local Government.
NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos intends to “investigate the matter further to determine the extent of the exaction that, on its face, appears to be illegal.”
“The statement of the two jail officers may be used as basis for a complaint that others in the jail management will be made to answer,” de Lemos, a lawyer, said.
The money from the undercover agent, Sy and Landero said, would have gone to a sinking fund of sorts that the jail management has put up to defray certain costs—transportation expenses of guards and inmates being brought to court, office supplies and the like.
They said they only collect money from those bringing in food items and other stuff intended to be sold inside the prison facility. They do not touch regular visitors.
“We get 50 centavos for every pack of items. It is a very nominal amount considering how much these food items are being sold inside the jail,” Landero, for her part, said.
“Tax”
Both Sy and Landero said the practice of collecting “tax” from those who enter the facility with items intended to be sold began even before they got assigned to the BBRC.
“It just so happened that we were the ones who were in charge with the collection,” Sy said.
The entrapment stemmed from the complaint filed by Arsenia Abines, 40, of Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, before the NBI.
Arsenia’s husband, Carmelo, is detained in BBRC for robbery.
Arsenia said she tried to visit her husband yesterday morning but the guards prevented her from entering if she fails to pay the P255 fee assessed for the items she was bringing along.
“The package included coffee, vinegar, soy sauce and other food stuff,” she said in Cebuano, adding that the collection began only last December.
But Sy said Arsenia began selling stuff inside only last December. Hence, she became subject to “taxation” starting that month.
“This was her fourth visit delivering items inside and she always begged off from paying,” Sy explained.
De Lemos said they are not discounting the possibility of requiring the jail management to “appear for a conference.”
Charges
The NBI is studying what charges to file against the two jail guards, “if only to hold them until others can be identified.”
Probable charges include violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and extortion.
Article 214 of the Revised Penal Code sanctions with “the penalty of temporary special disqualification in its maximum period to perpetual special disqualification” any public officer who “takes advantage of his official position.”
It also penalizes those who demand, directly or indirectly, the payment of sums different from or larger than those authorized by law.
The law applies to those who collect or receive, directly or indirectly, by way of payment or otherwise things or objects of a nature different from that provided by law.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 7, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
