Jail escapees’ photos released

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines – Authorities yesterday distributed to the public enlarged photos of more than 100 inmates who had escaped from the North Cotabato provincial jail, in a bid to hasten their recapture.

Chief Inspector Joyce Birrey, North Cotabato provincial police spokesperson, said all of the province’s 17 towns were given copies of the pictures.

More than 40 of the 158 escapees were recaptured and returned to jail. At least 10 were killed by pursuing police and Army teams when they resisted arrest.

The escapees bolted their detention cells in Barangay Amas last Jan. 3 after Moro gunmen raided the facility to rescue at least 10 of their cohorts, who are charged for several bombing incidents in North Cotabato.

It was the third assault on the same penitentiary in about a decade.

Birrey said the province’s 17 towns are actively helping the police locate the inmates.

Acting Gov. Shirlyn Macasarte-Villanueva earlier asked Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno to replace jail warden Supt. Peter Bongat for mismanagement.