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Friday, February 10, 2006
Editorial: Guard’s retraction and city jail mess
RETRACTIONS are often viewed with suspicion.
When a suspect owns up the crime then later disowns it or when a witness points to the culprit then later takes it back, motive or cause of change of mind becomes an issue.
Is the retraction genuine admission of error or malice, or is it induced by coercion or reward?
When JO1 Eveht Sy amd JO1 Menchu Landero, guards at the Cebu City Jail, were caught last Monday by NBI agents collecting tong from a relative visiting an inmate, they said they were just obeying orders.
Tong's use
The money was to be used for expenses of the City Jail that the jail management bureau and the City Government don't provide, they said, explaining that it has been an old practice of the jail.
Last Wednesday, or barely two days after the entrapment, the jail guards turned around. Jail guards flip, clear chief: the newspaper headline read.
The illegal exaction was their "own initiative," they said, and no jail officials were involved. They were just shocked and confused by the arrest, they explained.
Doubts fueled
Aside from the usual suspicion that dogs retractions, the conditions under which the guards' turnabout was made fuel doubts.
Consider the jail bosses' influence over the guards and how vulnerable the two women were to their officials.
Immediately after the guards posted cash bail of P10,000 each (the source of which still had to be traced), the jail guards were not secluded from their chiefs.
The press conference was called by the warden who sat beside the two jail guards as they told their story.
The fear that prompted them to serve as tong collectors could be the same fear that compelled them to clear their superiors.
The retraction should not get the jail officials off the hook. Instead, it must lead to more inquiry about the confirmed tong and a plausible coverup.
As to the jail guards, if they were not the only ones responsible, they should tell the truth. In any case, they should be charged and punished, for their part in the racket and, if a coverup exists, in protecting their superiors.
Jail problems
Retractions can be allowed only if the original accusation or admission is false. If used to clear the guilty, it obstructs and mocks justice.
Other than that, the incident may lead to a new tack in dealing with city jail problems to find the solution that has eluded authorities for so long.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 10, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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