Detainee attempts suicide; 3 policemen in hot water

CEBU, Philippines – Three policemen are now in hot water after a detainee attempted to take his life inside his cell at the Carbon Police Station.

The policemen allegedly failed to prevent one of the visitors of the detainee from sneaking in a sewing needle, which the suspect in a rape case used to puncture a vein before banging his head on the wall several times to take his life.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, Chief of the City Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office, said the three cops who served as jail guards last Monday will be subjected to a pre-charge evaluation.

The policemen, Santander said, have first been made to explain within 24 hours in affidavit form why they would not be charged after a visitor was able to sneak a sewing needle inside the detention cell past their inspection.

The duty jail guards that time were identified as SPO4 Eugenio Teves, PO2 Elebert Juaneza, and PO3 Reynaldo Labatig.

Santander said Paulino Dibdib stuck the two-inch long needle into his left shoulder then banged his head several times on the concrete wall inside the detention cell.

The detainee is reportedly afraid and depressed over the case he is facing, which might not be bailable.

He was arrested by Carbon Police last Sunday after reportedly raping a 23-year-old woman who hails from Tubod, Minglanilla town.

The woman, who temporarily stays in the house of Dibdib in Warwick Barracks in barangay Ermita, is reportedly the best friend of the suspect's 31-year-old live-in-partner.

Police immediately applied first aid on the detainee after seeing him bleeding, but Sr. Insp. Pablito Sarno, the station chief, later ordered to have him brought to the hospital as his head wound continued to bleed.

He is now at the Cebu City Medical Center under close watch, said Santander.

Santander said that the jail guards, who were then on duty from 8 am to 8 pm last Monday, could be suspended or dismissed for infidelity in the custody of a person and neglect of duty.

Sarno will also be included in the investigation for command responsibility, Santander added.

The police official said it was sort of too late for the victim as it was later found out through a medical certificate from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center that the complainant was not raped.

"Walay evidence of sexual molestation, so most possibly ma-downgrade jud iyang kaso," Santander said.

Santander said that since CIB is the one who filed the case against the suspect, it is up to the court to decide what will happen to the case. (FREEMAN)