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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Live wire kills 5
By Mia E. Abellana & Rene H. Martel Sun.Star Staff Reporters
Five inmates suffered terribly for their crimes.
They were electrocuted in their sleep after a live wire touched the iron bars of their holding cell in Cebu City’s Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) yesterday dawn.
A top City Hall official said the accident further emphasized the need to transfer inmates from the BBRC—built for 250, but which now houses over 2,600—to a newer prison in Barangay Kalunasan.
An electrician also recommended rewiring the entire prison, bearing in mind the power demand from the inmates’ electric fans.
Twelve inmates were inside the first holding cell when they felt the first shocks a few minutes before 3 a.m.
While some of them managed to get up and scramble to the hammocks to avoid touching the iron bars, the five were fast asleep.
Nestor Luna, 52, Sesinando Abala, 33, Rustom Cuervo, 36, Mike Restauro, 18, and Roberto Caballes, 21, were all motionless by the time the electric current was cut off.
They were clad in just shorts and were lying on the floor. Because they were in a small cell, they had to lie very close to each other.
They were rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center but were declared dead on arrival.
According to the warden, Supt. Efren Nemeño, wires at the jail were sometimes loosened at the ceiling because inmates often pulled at these to get wires of their own.
When they are assigned to cells inside the main part of the jail, they use the wires to make their own connections so they can make their own electric fans work.
That night, one of the inmates was reportedly uneasy and kept moving his hammock.
They suspect this moved the wire, scraped open its rubber covering and then made it touch the iron bars.
Family members though, suspect foul play.
May Diane Abala, Sesinando’s sister, said her brother was supposed to attend a hearing yesterday morning so he could post bail. She and her relatives find it hard to believe what happened was not intentional.
Ernalyn Palacio, Restauro’s live-in partner, was dismayed when she and his relatives went to the jail, only to find out what happened.
Palacio and Restauro’s aunt Yolanda Encarnacion claimed they were not entertained at the jail.
“Ganahan ra gud unta mi mangusisa didto. Bisag escortan pa mi nila kay namatyan gud mi. Ganahan lang mi mahibawo unsay nahitabo (We just wanted to see for ourselves. They could have escorted us inside. We want to know how we lost our loved ones),” Encarnacion said.
Warden Nemeño, though, called it a freak accident and hopes the families will wait for the investigation results before making such claims.
He added that if it was intentional, it would not have affected all the inmates in the holding cell.
Except for Abala, all the inmates had just been committed to the BBRC.
Nemeño explained that before they are assigned to cells in the main part of the jail, they are kept in holding cells until they are properly interviewed and photographed.
Luna, a resident of Barangay Sto. Niño, and Restauro, of Lagtang, Talisay City, were jailed for theft while Abala, of Cabantan, Barangay Luz, and Cuerva, of Barangay Ermita, Cebu City were facing drug charges.
Caballes, who resided in Ermita, was committed for attempted homicide.
At City Hall, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said an engineer he sent to the jail to look into its electrical connections initially reported to him the need to re-wire the prison and evaluate the inmates’ power demand.
The engineer, who went to BBRC upon Rama’s request, told the vice mayor that the rubber insulation of the wire that killed the inmates got burned off.
That suggests wear and tear from a high demand for power, or that the wire was too small to accommodate the needed electrical current so that it grew so hot, the rubber melted.
The wire, he was told, was directly connected to the main line of the jail. When the rubber melted, the wire came in contact with the bars of the holding area where the victims were sleeping.
He said the engineer’s initial recommendation was to change the wiring of the facility because the current one is so topsy-turvy.
City Councilor Procopio Fernandez, chairman of the council committee on police, fire, penology and public safety, said the engineer was sent to check the status of the electrical connections in the jail after what happened.
The engineer will give a formal report to the Police Coordinating and Advisory Council this Friday, he said.
He refused to make any statement on the incident when asked who should be held culpable. Rama likewise refused to dwell on who should take the blame, saying they are focusing on what interventions to introduce to prevent a repeat.
He said he told the warden to place wood between the wires and the bars.
The vice mayor also said the incident was still about the need to transfer the inmates to a better jail facility, which is in Barangay Kalunasan.
The inmates, now numbering over 2,600, have to cope with the lack of ventilation and the stifling heat. They use electric fans and set up wires that are sometimes not safely installed.
“The necessity of the transfer (to Kalunasan) is still the issue here,” he said.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña has said he will not allow BBRC inmates to be transferred to Kalunasan as long as the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology 7 is not able to discipline its personnel.
Allegations of graft and corruption—ranging from special treatment of moneyed and influential inmates, to an illegal drug trade inside the facility—hounded the BBRC in recent years.
Prisoners also bolt the jail from time to time.
Osmeña said he assured Kalunasan residents they will be safe despite the jail’s presence. He added that as of the moment, he could not make such an assurance.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 21, 2006 issue)
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