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Thursday, January 20, 2005
Fraternizing caught in jail video, no shabu shown
By Minerva B. Gerodias
CEBU CITY -- Capitol consultant Benjamin Lascuña is being investigated for leaving behind three inmates in the old Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) when the inmates were transferred to the new prison in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City last month.
Lascuña had reported to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia that all the inmates were accounted for in the new jail, but two weeks after the transfer, the governor found out about three inmates who were left behind.
When confronted about this, Lascuña told Garcia that he ordered the inmates to destroy the "kobol" or makeshift cells in the old jail on M.J. Cuenco Ave., Cebu City.
"It is a serious breach of my policy. I'm the jailer, he did not ask for my permission and I only learned about it two weeks after the inmates' transfer to the new jail," the governor said.
Lascuña, the Capitol's consultant on penology, also has to explain what he was doing "fraternizing" with inmates inside a maximum-security cell in the new prison, as recorded by a security camera.
For the first time, Garcia showed reporters Wednesday the video footage from the security camera in the new CPDRC, which caught Lascuña handing a piece of paper and a pen to an inmate in the maximum-security cell.
There is a standing order that jail guards and other jail officials should not communicate with inmates in the maximum-security cell.
Pens are not allowed inside the jail as these can be used as weapons.
"He is a consultant and he was fraternizing with the inmates?" Garcia said.
Lascuña is scheduled to appear today before the committee on discipline and investigation to answer charges of dishonesty and special treatment of some inmates.
Garcia refused to reveal the other "serious allegations" against Lascuña.
Lascuña submitted his resignation last Tuesday, a day after the governor confronted him about the three inmates.
When the Civil Security Office conducted a surprise inspection Monday last week, they discovered the three inmates and Garcia immediately ordered that they be escorted to the new jail.
Jail guards were left to secure the old jail because there were things left after the inmates were transferred, but the guards were not aware there were still three prisoners inside the facility.
Garcia recalled that she wanted to send a team for an inventory of the items in the old jail, but Lascuña offered to take care of everything.
Garcia also ordered the engineering office to destroy the makeshift cells, but was not told that Lascuña chose to handle the demolition himself.
It is not true, however, that the security camera caught Lascuña selling drugs inside the prison.
The video merely shows that Lascuña entered the maximum-security cell at 3:16 p.m. on Jan. 8.
He gave a piece of paper and a pen to an inmate.
Capitol consultant Byron Garcia said the inmate was John Frederick Initan, a suspect in the kidnapping and killing of Japanese national Ryohei Sato.
At 4:01 p.m., Lascuña got the paper and pen from the inmate. He left at 4:03 p.m.
Garcia said the paper could be a message or a list, and she reacted to news reports that illegal drug trading in CPDRC was caught on video.
"Wherever did they get that (shabu issue)? It could be list or a message. Whoever picked that up and whoever was the source of that has a lot of explaining to do," Garcia told Sun.Star.
For his part, Capitol consultant on legal matters Pablo John Garcia was "troubled" by some of the reports that came out in the local papers yesterday, saying these were misleading.
The wrong information might "derail" the investigation that is being conducted, he said.
"I was quoted as saying that I have no confirmation about that report, yet in the headlines, it says, 'Capitol man sells shabu.' This is very troubling," Pablo John said.
"It's spectacular, it's sensational and, I'm sorry, but I will have to deny that because I never said such a thing. Let us treat people with respect, treat our readers with respect and let us treat out news sources with respect," he added.
(January 20, 2005 issue)
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