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Thursday, June 22, 2006
Despite deaths, warden to stay
To find out if anyone was negligent, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will send an investigating team to check on the circumstances that led to the death of five inmates Tuesday dawn.
But while previous jail wardens were relieved after any crisis at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC), Supt. Efren Nemeño will not suffer the same fate.
CHR 7 Director Alejandro Alonzo said they did not need to wait for the relatives of the five inmates to lodge a complaint before their office.
However, he said they would prefer that they visit the CHR 7, to strengthen any case that may be filed as a result.
Aside from the CHR 7, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) sent its own investigators to check on the electrocution of five inmates inside a packed holding cell of the Cebu City jail.
Supt. Cesar Balderas, deputy director for operations and administration of the BJMP 7, told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday it is “unfair and not appropriate” for Nemeño to be relieved as warden because he is doing well.
Transfer
Balderas also agreed with the statement of some Cebu City Government officials that changing the wardens is not the solution to the problems hounding the BBRC.
“We know the vulnerability and limitations of the jail. The BBRC is the most problematic jail in the entire country,” Balderas said.
Balderas said the only solution he sees to solve congestion at the city jail is the transfer of the more than 2,600 inmates to the new facility in Barangay Kalunasan.
He said he did not see the need for Nemeño to be kicked out of the city jail, following the electrocution of five inmates at 3 a.m. last Tuesday.
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.
Seven other inmates who were sleeping in the same holding cell survived.
Rescue
The jail does not have an electrical engineer, and during the accident it was an inmate, who worked as an electrician, who yanked their cell’s live wire out, said the deputy jail warden, Senior Insp. Gil Enopia.
“When Romulo Marinay first attempted to disconnect the wire, he fell from the shock,” Enopia said in a mobile phone interview last night.
Enopia dismissed the possibility of foul play.
Balderas said he is still waiting for the BBRC to submit a final report on the incident. He said a team of investigators led by Chief Insp. Niel Avisado has also been sent to the BBRC to conduct a separate investigation.
Initially, though, Balderas said it was a freak accident.
As the jail management is still getting to the bottom of the accident and trying to find out who could be held liable, the father of one of the victims yesterday said he suspected foul play.
Negligence?
Restauro’s father, Elpidio, said that while he did not discount the possibility that a jail worker orchestrated it, he is more inclined to suspect that another inmate was behind the killing.
He, however, clarified that he does not have evidence yet to support his claim.
Elpidio said that at 7 p.m. last Tuesday, the BBRC management handed over P5,000 cash to his family.
He, however, clarified that it will not sway him from filing a complaint against the BBRC administration for neglect of duty.
“Pagpabaya man to. Dili unta to mahitabo kon wala pa sila magpabaya (That would not have happened if they were not negligent),” Elpidio said.
He is waiting for the other victims’ families to decide whether to file a case against the jail management.
BBRC spokesperson JO3 Neil Rosaroso said they were willing to face any case filed against them, saying it was the family’s right to file formal charges.
Rosaroso said BBRC warden Efren Nemeño has come up with his own initiative to provide financial assistance to the affected families.
Rosaroso admitted the bureau did not have funds for such cases and that Nemeño somehow found a way to provide the money.
For now, the electric connection for the holding area has been cut off. (JST/MEA/With AIV)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 22, 2006 issue)
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