Saturday, February 16, 2008 Day after chief’s stern warning over jailbreaks, 8 more escape By MIA E. ABELLANA Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AFTER a pronouncement to relieve police chiefs the next time an escape happens, eight detainees who were turned over to the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) escaped from custody Thursday night.
However, no unit head will be relieved just yet as there were conflicting versions as to who was the last to see the eight inmates.
Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Carmelo Valmoria met with Regional Intelligence Division Chief Augusto Marquez Jr. yesterday to discuss the matter.
They agreed to have the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division (RIDMD) find out who should be held liable for the escape.
Personnel from the PIB and the RID are now under investigation as they could not agree on who was responsible for the escape.
The eight persons were originally detained at the San Fernando Police Station after they were arrested by RID operatives last Feb. 4 for visiting a drug den.
Last Thursday, they were picked up by the RID, reportedly for questioning. They were also set to attend a hearing yesterday morning.
They arrived at the PIB at about 5:30 p.m., said PIB Chief Juanito Enguerra, and asked if the eight could be detained there for the night because the RID does not have its own holding cell.
Enguerra said he refused because they did not have a “turnover of living bodies” form and the padlock of their detention cell was defective.
He claimed that he left at 6 p.m. However, the operatives returned with a padlock and the proper form.
Enguerra, quoting one of his men, said that they signed the turnover form but then the RID operatives said that they wanted to take the inmates out for supper first.
This is contrary to what the operatives told Marquez.
Marquez said that his men claimed the inmates went inside the detention cell and that the operatives left to buy them food.
They also went to the JY Square Mall to buy a new padlock so that the detention cell can be secured.
When they returned, they claimed the inmates were already gone.
Because of the conflicting versions, Valmoria has requested the RIDMD to investigate the escape.
“It’s an irony,” Valmoria said, after he was asked about his earlier warning to relieve police chiefs if another escape happens.
That warning came after three inmates bent a weak iron grill in the Consolacion Police Station’s detention cell and escaped unnoticed.
One of the detainees, Anecito Antiempo, surrendered to the San Fernando Police Station yesterday.
Seven others, identified as Iridea Baricuatro, Junie Cabosas, Anselmo Saz Jr., Johnrel Aguanta, Joseph Canonigo, Jeston Tantan and Rex Abanilla, are still unaccounted for and the subject of a manhunt.
They were arrested in Sitio Lakaron, Barangay Pitalo, San Fernando for allegedly visiting a drug den.
Marquez said that some of them have sent surrender feelers.
For now, Valmoria said they will not be using the PIB’s detention cell, which is an old container van.
He said that as of yesterday, all detainees should be sent to the nearest police station under the CPPO while the old container van will just serve as a stockroom.
And until the RIDMD comes up with the results of the investigation, the PIB and RID personnel will remain at their posts.
Officers at the PIB and the nearby Provincial Headquarters Security Group insisted that none of the detainees were able to enter the detention cell.
They said that after the RID operatives took the detainees out for supper, they did not return. The next thing they knew, they got a call from the San Fernando Police Station asking if it was true the inmates escaped.
“Klaro pa nga naa diha ang kandado. Ug napriso ba to sila, mahugaw unta na gamay ang selda. Tan-awa lang ninyo, kalimpyo ana (The padlock is in place. The cell is clean and shows no sign of having harbored those eight detainees),” one of the police officers said.
Enguerra feels they have no liability even if one of his men already signed the turnover of bodies form because the inmates were unable to step inside the detention cell.
San Fernando Police Chief Francis Deveyra said that desk officer PO1 Rommel Patalinghug got a call from RID deputy chief Julius Cesar Gornez informing them that they decided to detain the eight persons at the CPPO but they escaped.
Gornez, in a separate interview, told reporters that he only called to inform them of the situation so they could also take immediate action.
Asked about Enguerra’s claim that the inmates were unable to set foot in the detention cell, Gornez did not say much.
“That is their statement. Nakapirma man sila,” Gornez said before excusing himself and referring reporters to Marquez.
