2 dead in Batangas jailbreak

BATANGAS, Philippines – A jail guard and an inmate were killed while two policemen were wounded when three prisoners escaped from the Balayan jail yesterday.

Chief Inspector Salvador Solana, Balayan police chief, identified the fatalities as Senior Jail Officer 1 Leonardo de Castro and Ajie Mendoza and the wounded as Police Officer 3 Roderic Botavara and PO1 Arnel Abellera.

Initial reports showed three inmates – identified as Marvin Ceralbo, Jessie Pega and Mendoza – escaped by sawing off the iron grills in their cell using a guitar string around 2 a.m.

When the escapees saw De Castro, they grabbed his gun and shot him in the head.

Botavara was wounded when the inmates engaged him in a gunfight.

Mendoza was killed in a shootout with Abellera in a follow-up operation in Barangay Ermita. Ceralbo was captured, but Pega remains at large.