'Lax jailguards should be punished'

Malacañang said yesterday lax jail guards who allowed a key witness in the deadly bombing of the Batasan complex in Quezon City last year to escape from his detention cell at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame should be punished.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita directed the PNP leadership to improve its system of security, its facilities, including detention areas, pointing out that it was not the first time that high-profile detainees from the PNP headquarters escape.

The escapee, Ikram Indama, presented himself to the Quezon City judge on Tuesday and said he just wanted to be detained together with other suspects in the bombing in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.

The November 2007 bombing at the foyer of the House of Representatives main building killed Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar and three others and injured 10 people.

“This isn’t the first time this (escape) happened,” Ermita told a news briefing at the Palace. “If you recall there was a sensational jailbreak in Camp Crame in the past and this is something that authorities in Crame should look into. Like the case of the witness of the bombing that killed Congressman Akbar.”

“As of now, we’re leaving it to the police authorities to investigate this and mete out punishments to those remiss in their duties,” he said.

He said the PNP should “improve the duties and functions of those assigned as custodial forces for those detained” in Camp Crame.

Many high-profile detainees, including drug lords and terror suspects, have escaped from Camp Crame in the last several years. On June 19, 2002, Pentagon kidnap gang leader Faisal Marohombsar and two of his cohorts walked out of their detention area.

The following year, Jemaah Islamiya bomb maker Fathur Roman al-Ghozi and two Abu Sayyaf members also escaped while the prime minister of Australia was in Manila.