2 of 5 Pasig jail escapees recaptured

MANILA, Philippines - Two of five inmates who escaped from the Pasig City Jail have been recaptured, police said yesterday.

Robbery suspect Marlon Palacio and Patrick Espinosa, who is being tried for frustrated homicide, have been returned to the jail yesterday.

The two inmates, along with rape suspect Rico Manito Jr.; Junrey Gamarcha, who faces an illegal gun possession charge; and drug suspect Ryan Cayabyab bolted from the city jail at Nagpayong, Barangay Pinagbuhatan before dawn Friday by sawing off the bars of their cell.

Espinosa was caught at his aunt’s house in Tanay, Rizal at around 10 a.m. Friday after a relative told police where he was hiding, Police Officer 1 Catherine Capinpin of the Eastern Police District (EPD) public information office said. 

Palacio surrendered to the EPD’s intelligence division yesterday morning. Palacio, a resident of Pasig, sought the help of Pasig Councilor Christian Caruncho. He was turned over to EPD intelligence chief Superintendent Remus Medina.

Capinpin said the other escapees “have not sent any surrender feelers but we have leads on where they could be now.”

When he was interrogated after his recapture, Palacio said they got the saw blade from a nearby construction site. Investigators, however, are not discounting the possibility that a visitor to the jail could have slipped the escapees the saw blade.