Espinosa slay convict just jogged his way to freedom

MANILA, Philippines – The security at the Masbate provincial jail is so lax that a convict could just casually jog his way to freedom.

Former Masbate City vice mayor Florencio Fernandez, who was convicted for the 1989 killing of former Masbate congressman Moises Espinosa Sr., told Camp Crame reporters that he just jogged out of the Masbate provincial jail where is serving four life imprisonment terms, in the early hours of June 22.

Fernandez was presented by Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa to the media following his surrender the other day.

According to Fernandez, the jail’s warden, Ricardo Bolanon, allowed him to jog outside the premises of the detention facility.

Last June 22, he said he was able to jog away and sought refuge at a relative’s house nearby without anybody stopping him.

Fernandez told reporters that he decided to escape because he felt that his life was in extreme danger.

“I escaped at about 4:30 in the morning. I escaped because there is a threat to my life. If I stay there, there is a possibility that I will not be seen alive. I decided to escape and sought refuge at a relative’s house also in Masbate City,” Fernandez said in Filipino.

Sometime in 2007, he said some people were paid P1million to kill him and that one of them informed him about the plot.

Fernandez said he then informed the jail guards who managed to intercept his supposed would-be killers as they tried to enter the jail.

He said politics is behind the threat to his life. “I have an idea why they wanted me dead. But for security reasons, I will not reveal who wants to kill me. They are influential persons in Masbate. What I know is that they see me as their political opponent,” he said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Verzosa said the PNP will coordinate with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in probing the lax security at the Masbate provincial jail.

“We will support the BJMP in an inspection and security survey pertaining to what is happening in the provincial jail of Masbate. It seems that in our initial debriefing with Mr. Fernandez, there seems to be laxity in the provision of security to detention prisoners there,” he said.

Verzosa also said the PNP will be requesting the BJMP to conduct an overall review of the existing management and security policies at the Masbate provincial jail.

Fernandez surrendered to former Masbate governor Ranier Butalid and boarded one of two UH-1H Huey helicopters sent by the Philippine Air Force to fetch him at the Masbate airport Tuesday morning.

Verzosa ruled out any preferential treatment for Fernandez and justified the use of the helicopter to fetch and bring him to Manila considering the supposed threat to his life.

Chief Superintendent Constante Azares Jr., chief of the PNP’s National Operations Center based at Camp Crame, supervised and coordinated Fernandez’s “airlift.”

Meanwhile, Fernandez’s lawyer, Rainer Botalid, has filed a motion in court to allow his client to be transferred to the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame, citing the threat to his life.

Botalid told reporters that although Fernandez has been convicted, he is being detained at the Masbate provincial jail as his appeal is still pending with the Supreme Court.

Under the law, persons convicted of crimes should be detained at the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City. – Mike Frialde and Cecille Suerte Felipe