Delay in release of 5 Davao inmates scored

DAVAO CITY — Five former convicts have accused officials of the Davao Penal Colony of keeping them locked up for more than a year after they have served their jail terms.

Prison records confirmed the allegations of Alfredo Caban, Dante Velasquez, Bonifacio Parot, Virgilio Lumayag and Rudy Marcojos, who were released in the first week of this month.

The STAR learned of the alleged irregularity after receiving a letter from Caban, 37, a resident of Barangay Agdao, Davao City, and who gave his prison number as 129811.

In his letter, Caban said he was freed from the Davao Penal Colony in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte last Sept. 6, when prison records showed that he was supposed to be in jail only up to Jan. 14 last year.

Caban was convicted of homicide by the Butuan City court in 1986 and was transferred to the Davao Penal Colony after serving a portion of his term at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

Caban told The STAR that he and the four other former convicts are seeking justice for having endured a longer time in prison because the penal colony’s officials failed to release them after they had served their terms.

"Aside from psychological suffering, we have also been affected by health problems as a result of our prolonged stay inside the prison facility," Caban said in the vernacular in his letter.