3 detainees escape

THREE detainees have bolted out from police detention during an hour-long scheduled blackout in Zamboanga City, the police said.

The escape happened around 9 p.m. Friday from the detention cell of the Police Station 7 just as the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) had just shut off the power for the scheduled brownout.

The detainees who escaped were identified the Ben Asdali, Orlic Taguran and Aldrin Jailani, the police said.

Asdali is facing charges for illegal possession of firearms while Taguran and Jailani were charged for robbery, the police said.

They were among the nine detainees at the Police Station 7. They face different charges.

They are still in the custody of the police since they have signed a 15-day waiver to avail of their rights for preliminary investigation as stipulated under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.

Investigation showed that the three escaped by passing through the ceiling of the detention cell’s bathroom, Domingo said.

From there, they crawled to the adjacent room that houses a postal office and made their way out through the dilapidated portion of the roof.

Their escape went unnoticed since they fully opened the faucet and took advantage of the pitch noise of the water when they opened the ceiling.

Also, it was too dark since Zamcelco had just shut off the power in the village of Sta. Maria, where the Police Station 7 is located, and nearby villages.

Zamcelco had been implementing a one-hour rotational blackout daily in this city since the power allocation it receives is below the maximum demand of this city’s electric consumers.

The six others told the police that they were ordered by the three escapees to go to sleep when the power was shut off.

Security measures have been tightened at the Police Station 7 to prevent a repeat of the incident.

A manhunt was launched aimed to recapture the three fugitives, the police said.