4 Mandaluyong cops sacked, 1 escapee back in jail

MANILA, Philippines - Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel yesterday ordered the relief of a top official of the Mandaluyong City police and three other jail officers following the escape of 10 inmates on Tuesday.

Relieved were Chief Inspector Numeriano Gabuya, head of the Criminal Investigation Unit, and jailguards SPO1 Julius Pinera, PO3 Julius Payoyo, and PO2 Dante Alariao.

Meanwhile, one of the 10 inmates who bolted the Mandaluyong police detention facility gave up to local authorities hours after the escape.

Velentino Gianan, 29, said it was the three “Sigue-Sigue Sputnik” members facing possession of illegal drug charges who hatched the escape plan.

Gianan, who is facing vagrancy charges, could have been released from jail yesterday if he did not join the jailbreak, according to Laurel.

Laurel said Gianan was accompanied by his elder brother, Ramil, a former helper at the Mandaluyong police station, when he surrendered.

The EPD chief directed Senior Superintendent Armando Bolalin, Mandaluyong police chief, to study the case of Gianan and determine whether he is liable for evasion of sentence charges.

Gianan said it was the “Sigue-Sigue Sputnik” members who destroyed the iron grills of their detention cell at the ground floor of the three-story building in the city hall compound.

He pointed to their prison “mayor” Reynaldo Elligo, and inmates Joel Capule, and Rolando Palmenco as the ones who masterminded the escape plan.

Superintendent Ranny Tapat, head of the EPD district special operations unit, noted that at the time of the escape, the three detainees had several visitors.

Three tracker teams were dispatched to recapture Elligo, Capule, Palmenco, Henry Andrade, Rommel Abarca, Gabriel Gonzales, Mark Lowie Burilla, Mark Aguja, and Melgar Quinones.