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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
11 patients bolt drug rehab site
By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY -- Amid a pending inquiry on the escape of 24 rehab patients last year, 11 inmates bolted anew from the Cebu Center for the Ultimate Rehabilitation of Drug Dependents (Curedd) using the main gate at 1:30 p.m. Monday.
It took a Cebu City councilor to inform the police about the escape more than an hour later.
The 11 patients pushed their way out of the receiving area after they saw a member of the staff enter the door to bring in food during a film showing.
Unarmed guards who tried to stop them were overpowered by the stampede.
Out of the 11 patients, four were immediately captured outside the facility's gate, with help from operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, whose operation section is inside the compound.
A police team later recaptured two more patients in Villagonzalo at about 4 p.m.
The two complained of harsh treatment in the facility and that they were homesick.
The two patients, who were brought to the Cebu City Theft and Robbery Section, told reporters that the escape was not planned, contrary to initial reports received by Cebu City Councilor Augustus "Jun" Pe Jr.
Pe said that one of the patients who was recently confined in the facility had just been released from the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) last June.
He said this patient is believed to be the one who planned to escape.
Pe, who heads the committee on dangerous drugs, plans to conduct an investigation on how the patients escaped and why it took so long for Curedd to inform the police.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas is yet release the result on an inquiry it conducted on the escape last Nov. 1. The patients had complained of bad food, physical abuse and congestion.
Pe said that eight of the guards who manned Curedd during the escape were PNP personnel assigned under Camp Crame, while three were detailed by the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
While the escape happened at 1:30 p.m., the Mobile Patrol Group was alerted at 2:50 p.m., after getting a call from Superintendent Melvin Gayotin.
Councilor Sylvan "Jack" Jakosalem, who called Gayotin to ask for updates, was surprised to know that the CCPO director was not aware of the escape.
Jakosalem learned of the incident after receiving a text message from an insider.
No one from Curedd, formerly called Drug Rehabilitation and After Care Center (Dracc), was willing to issue a statement to reporters outside.
The Curedd director, Chief Inspector Pablo Apolinario, is reportedly in Manila attending a seminar. Officer-in-charge, Senior Police Officer 3 Eugenio Hensis, did not come out of the facility.
However, a guard at the gate who briefly talked with some reporters said a brief rumble ensued because the gate was too narrow for all 11 to get through.
He said some of them leapt over the fence facing the Cebu IT Park.
The two recaptured patients, aged 34 and 27, said they just took advantage of the open door because they missed their families.
They said the two-year program felt too long.
They also complained about the treatment they got from the facility's guards.
They were made to do a hundred push-ups if they failed to walk on sidesteps or placed their hands behind their backs when passing guards.
SPO4 Rex Campos, PO2 Oliver Jamboy and PO2 Armando Juegos of the Crime Suppression Unit, and SPO1 Venancio Abella, SPO1 Amil Coloscos, PO3 Jeffrey Diola and PO3 Raul Cosido Jr. of the Theft and Robbery Section picked up the two patients in Villagonzalo.
When asked where he got his wounds, the 34-year-old patient said he got these during a scuffle with the facility's guards.
He denied the former BBRC inmate initiated the escape, saying all 11 of them did not plan the incident.
The patients were having a film showing when the staff member entered the room to bring food.
One of the inmates allegedly grabbed the key from the staff member while the rest pushed their way outside.
The Cebu City Government withheld its financial assistance for Curedd in February after the facility failed to account for its expenses.
Pe had learned that the facility incurred at least P1.3 million in electricity bills since 2003.
City Hall used to give the facility an annual subsidy of P500,000 and P1,000 allowance for its personnel.
An oversight committee learned that the center could not account for at least P100,000 in patients' monthly subsistence allowance and DDB subsidy for each month between February and August last year.
At least P991,114 also remained unaccounted for, which was projected to reach P1.2 million when the January, September and October financial statements are completed.
After the implementation of Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, rehabilitation centers should already be handled by the Department of Health.
But Curedd is still supervised by members of the PNP, as no formal turnover has been arranged yet.
(July 5, 2005 issue)
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