8 bolt Surigao Sur jail

Eight inmates facing charges from murder to car theft escaped from the Surigao del Sur provincial jail at dawn yesterday, police said.

A report to Camp Crame identified the escapees as Gaudencio Layno, Elseio Macuray, Peter Sandaya, Pedro Lantaca, Romualdo Salumon, Arturo Juba, and Armerson and Junmar Morante.

Senior Inspector James Goforth, police chief of Cantillan town where the provincial jail is located, said Layno, a former militiaman convicted of murder, led the jailbreak.

The eight inmates escaped by destroying the iron grills of their cell’s window.

The jail guard on duty, Huberto Diaz, has been placed under investigation. — Jaime Laude, Ben Serrano