CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Police units across northern Mindanao have been placed on red alert as authorities hunt down 13 of the 21 inmates who bolted the Valencia City jail in Bukidnon last Tuesday afternoon.
Chief Inspector Jason Reyes, provincial jail administrator, said the regional office of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology is coordinating with the police and Army for the recapture of the 13 escapees who are armed with shotguns and pistols.
The jailbreakers carted away six shotguns and five 9-mm pistols from the jail’s armory.
One of the 21 escapees, a certain Reymart Belmes, was recaptured in the neighboring town of Quezon, and another, one Jamal Sambarani, gave himself up after the jailbreak.
Six others have also been recaptured, namely Roel Llacuna, 20; Albert Espinosa; Rogelio Tayros, 32; Carlos Lubos, 19; Ronald Ga; and Jorem Barros.
Still at large are Khalid Anggao, Teofisto Villamero, Rodney Trinidad, Name Usop, Kairama Usop, Dionesio Daulong, Macxie Macarampat, Jeffrey Odagon, Ronnie Recibdo, Abdul Nasser Roquero, Jenie Armecin, Marlon Canoy, and Papaw Sarip, who are facing charges of murder, illegal drugs, robbery, and rape.
The jailbreak occurred when only female jail guards were around following an alternative learning session in the facility.
Two of the inmates, Daulong and Espinosa, sought permission from one of the jail guards to go to the comfort room and when their cell was opened, Daulong clobbered the guard.
The two took the keys and opened cells 3 and 9, and then the group entered the administrative office, attacked two other female jail guards, and took the firearms from the armory.
The escapees scaled the fence at the back of the jail and fled toward a rice field.
Reyes said the escape was apparently planned by its ringleaders.
Police checkpoints have been set up in all five provinces in the region. Buses and other means of public transport plying the Bukidnon route between Cagayan de Oro City and Davao as well as Cotabato and Lanao del Sur have also been alerted on the escapees who would have changed their clothes by now. – With Edith Regalado, John Unson, Cecille Suerte Felipe