CPDRC visits put off another week

It will be another week before Governor Gwendolyn Garcia restores the visitation privileges of the inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center because of a noise barrage they staged the other night to demand for it.

Garcia decided yesterday to defer the visitation privileges for one more week as punishment for what they did. The privileges were earlier cancelled following the escape of two inmates.

She said every infraction committed by the inmates means one more week deferment of their visitation privilege, adding that the inmates do not have the right to demand for it because it is not their right but a privilege granted to them by the jail management.

The more than 1,000 inmates of the CPDRC held a noise barrage last Wednesday night. The noise barrage, which started at 8:00 p.m. and lasted for more than an hour, disturbed the neighborhood in barangay Kalunasan prompting them to alert the police.

All cars of the Mobile Patrol Group and Crime Suppression Unit, including members of the Special Weapons and Tactics responded to the provincial jail after they received a report of an alleged jailbreak. The police eventually pulled out after half an hour, but the SWAT team and another team from the Cebu Provincial Police Office quick response team remained until the noise barrage was over.

A source told The Freeman that the inmates were not only demanding the restoration of their visitation privileges but also wanted to kill Merlito Saducas, one of the leaders of the inmates in CPDRC.

It was not clear why most of the inmates wanted to kill Saducas but sources said the jail management foiled the plan, prompting them to stage a noise barrage. - Fred P. Languido