PNP chief orders security checks on jails nationwide

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has ordered a security check on various detention centers nationwide to prevent more jailbreaks.

Speaking at a conference of police and jail officials, Ebdane said he wants security management improved in all detention centers to avoid a "legacy of jailbreaks" under his watch.

"One jailbreak is too many," he said.

He has also directed Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol, PNP director for operations, to coordinate with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology for the inspection of the security systems in the various municipal and city jails, Ebdane added.

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, PNP intelligence chief, said he has ordered the rehabilitation of his unit’s jail, which houses alleged international terrorists, Indonesians Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi and Agus Dwikarna.

"Our jail facilities are not even suitable for interrogation," he said.

Caringal said the lack of surveillance cameras and other facilities in PNP detention centers are hindering police efforts to effectively investigate known terrorists.

"We have to do away with what we have," he said. "And so far, we are several steps ahead in the anti-terrorist campaign."

Fathur and Agus, who are believed to be members of suspected terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, have been convicted of illegal possession of explosives before the courts.

Others detained in PNP jails are: Abu Sayyaf leader Abdulmukim Edris, and Abu Tagalog, who is accused of involvement in a plot to sow terror in Metro Manila.

Recently, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said a prisoner escapes from jail every three days.

Quoting figures from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Pangilinan said 128 inmates bolted various prisons run by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) last year.

"That’s an average of one jail breaker every three days," he said. "What is the bureau doing to arrest the increasing number of jailbreaks?"

During a recent public hearing on the DOJ budget, Pangilinan said the number of jailbreaks in 2001 was 21 percent higher than those reported in 2000.

"This figure does not include the illegal release from detention of certain inmates by corrupt jail guards," he said.

Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate justice and human rights committee, said records show only five out of 70 corrupt jail guards have been dismissed from the service.

"Others were merely suspended or transferred to another post, while the rest were simply fined or reprimanded," he said. "Such punishments do not contribute to stopping the culture of incompetence among jail wardens."

Pangilinan said BuCor Director Ricardo Macala must impose harsher penalties on incompetent wardens to stop the growing number of jailbreaks.

"Unless harsher administrative as well as criminal sanctions are imposed, we can expect the jailbreaks to continue," he said. "Macala himself should be made to account." – Christina Mendez, Sammy Santos