Probe on escape of 8 inmates starts

Police Regional Office director Ronald Roderos yesterday ordered the Regional Investigation and Detective Management-7 to conduct a thorough investigation as to who could have been liable for the escape last week of eight detainees originally kept at the San Fernando Police Station but were later transferred to a makeshift cell at the Cebu Provincial Police Office.

There are conflicting versions as to the manner of escape of the eight detainees, it was learned. The Provincial Intelligence Bureau-CPPO insisted that the detainees escaped from the custody of the Regional Intelligence Division-7, while the detainees said they were able to escape after having managed to open the cell. They then crawled outside and slip through the barbed wires, they added.

“I have ordered RIDM to conduct an inquiry and immediately make a recommendation to me,” Roderos said.

While Roderos is not giving a time frame for the submission of the recommendation, RIDM chief Arturo Evangelista said he is waiting for the separate incident report of the CPPO and the RID on the manner as to how the detainees could have escaped.

“I will determine which personnel – the R2 or the CPPO – are responsible for the escape. I will dig deeper into this matter,” Evangelista said.

CPPO-PIB chief Juanito Enguerra earlier said that the eight escaped from the hands of RID personnel, reasoning out that it would be strange for detainees to bolt from the hands of the provincial police as there are “no marks or clear evidence.”

Beforehand, he said, his men refused to admit the eight detainees because the RID men did not present a Turnover of Living Bodies form and that the padlock of the cell was defective. 

The RID men, however, returned with the needed form and a new padlock to replace the defective one.

The jail guard at that time said he signed the turnover form, but then the RID personnel allegedly took the detainees out for supper. But this was denied by the RID men, saying that the detainees were already inside the detention cell when they left to buy food for them. Upon their return, they noticed that the eight detainees were already gone. — Garry B. Lao/MEEV