A POLICE officer in Mandaue City has been relieved after a detainee escaped during his watch last Sunday.
Personnel of the Centro Police Station recaptured John Harley Heyrosa, 20, less than two hours after he bolted from the station's detention cell.
But Senior Insp. Jimmy Fortes, station chief, said PO3 Victor Isidro, desk officer when the jail break occurred, will still be placed under investigation.
The police officer has been transferred temporarily to the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) headquarters.
“Even if the detainee gets recaptured within minutes or hours, the police officer may still face administrative liabilities,” Fortes told reporters.
He said a report of the incident has been submitted to the MCPO Investigation and Detection Management Branch.
Heyrosa, who was arrested for carrying an unlicensed firearm in Barangay Mantuyong last Friday night, escaped around 7 a.m. last Sunday.
Before his escape, fellow detainees said they saw Heyrosa fiddling with the padlock.
He hid inside the abandoned public market building in Barangay Centro before he was arrested past 8 a.m. while waiting for a jeepney ride.
The police station, which will soon be transferred to another building, is located on the second floor of the market building.
Heyrosa, a resident of Mantuyong, was reportedly detained in the station several times in the past.
In an earlier interview, Isidro said he was talking to someone on the phone when
Heyrosa escaped.
Apart from Heyrosa, the station had three other detainees at the time.