MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes has ordered a thorough inspection of the Mandaue City Jail to prevent another shooting inside the facility.
Cortes finds the presence of a firearm and the killing of drug suspect Romy Ramas inside the jail on Monday, July 29, 2019, alarming.
The mayor told the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to inspect the jail cells and that they should not allow another shooting incident to happen.
Ramas, 22, was shot to death by his fellow prisoner while playing basketball at the city jail’s male dormitory.
It was the second shooting incident inside the city jail. Drug lord Steve Go was also shot dead inside the facility on June 20, 2018. Ramas was reportedly an underling of Go.
“We have to strictly implement measures. There are detainees there from other places, but again we have to do something to stop the entry of deadly weapons there,” Cortes told reporters on Wednesday, July 31.
Jail Warden Jessie Calumpang admitted to reporters on Tuesday, July 30, that his personnel had failed to notice that a gun had been sneaked inside the jail.
Cortes has convened the City Peace and Order Council to discuss security measures not only inside the jail but throughout the city.
He plans to visit the jail to check the situation there, as well as the proposed site for the new city jail in Barangay Basak.
Cortes said the jail should be transferred because its present location in Barangay Looc is not ideal.
The jail should not be surrounded by houses as this would make it easy for contraband to be smuggled inside, he said.
The City Government plans to use the existing jail as the Mandaue City College campus. The college is using some rooms of the Mandaue City Sports Complex as temporary classrooms. (from ANV of Superbalita Cebu/LRC)