Sunday, August 08, 2004 Entry of marijuana in jail foiled By Fred P. Macaraeg
LINGAYEN -- Guards at the Pangasinan Provincial Jail thwarted an attempt of an inmate's visitor to slip marijuana into the jail.
Acting jail warden Rogelio Paglingayen said Camilo Garcia, a resident of Barangay Pangapisan had been turned over to the municipal police after the guards recovered 3.9 grams of marijuana from Garcia.
"When they requested him to take off his shoes, he was hesitant. So the guards forced him to take off his shoes and socks and they recovered pack of marijuana," Paglingayen said.
Paglingayen ordered Garcia should be unclad for there could still some other contrabands in his body.
They took the suspect to a secluded place and recovered dried marijuana leaves wrapped in cellophane inside his underwear.
"Perhaps, during his first and second visits, he did not have any baggage. On his third visit, the guards had chanced on his possession of marijuana," Paglingayen said.
He said Garcia could now be out of jail on bail as the municipal police had immediately filed the case against the suspect in court.
Asked if there were some witnesses when Garcia was body searched, he said there were five guards, two did the body search while the other watched.
"There are also some detainees who witnessed it so they would be asked to testify, they will testify," he said.
During a surprise inspection at the jail under Col. Felimon Doria's administration, the special operations group of the provincial police recovered more than 100 grams of shabu inside the jail.
They also found out that inmate Abelardo Punzal, considered number one drug personality in Region I, had been given special treatment. His detention cell was air-conditioned and had a refrigerator inside it.
It was also learned that drug trade had been occurring inside the jail wherein drug users from the outside posed as visitors to buy shabu from the detained drug personalities.
This led to the relief of Doria as warden and was eventually dismissed from government service.
Paglingayen said being the acting warden, he issued policies and guidelines that should be followed in jail.
"To prevent the recurrence of that incident, all visitors, if female, she should be body searched inside the office where there is female jail employee who would do it, and if male, it would be the jail guards," he said.
Paglingayen also said that when he talked with inmates with drug cases, they vowed not to engage anymore in the illegal drug activities and would cooperate with his administration.
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