Acting North Cotabato governor wants provincial jail warden out

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines -- The acting governor of North Cotabato has recommended the replacement of the provincial jail warden after more than 100 detainees escaped in a jailbreak this week.

Shirlyn Macasarte-Villanueva, officer-in-charge of the provincial government, told Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno in a letter that there was apparent mismanagement of the provincial jail by its warden, Superintendent Peter Bongat, Jr. Macasarte-Villanueva, also chairperson of the inter-agency provincial peace and order council, said Bongat has to be replaced to pave the way for an impartial inquiry into the incident.

Bongat said Thursday that he only had 21 guards for the 1,500 detainees in the provincial jail.

Provincial officials are planning to initiate an extensive evaluation of the conditions at the jail to determine measures to prevent another jailbreak. It was the third assault on the facility in about a decade.

Superintendent Joyce Birrey, spokesperson of the North Cotabato provincial police, on Saturday said 10 of the 158 inmates who escaped from the jail this week were killed by pursuing Army and police teams because they resisted arrest.

Birrey said 43 others were arrested and returned to the provincial jail in Kidapawan City with the help of local executives and barangay officials in nearby towns.

She said more than 20 of the captured escapees were found hiding in a rice farm in Kabacan town in North Cotabato by a combined team of police and soldiers led by Mayor Herlo Guzman.

Sources: Freed detainees were sons of BIFF founder

Sources from Army intelligence units told The STAR on Saturday that they are now validating information that three of those set free during the jail raid are nephews of the late Imam Ameril Ombra Kato, founder the the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

“Some of our informants are active members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” said an officer, who asked not to be identified owing to the risky nature of his undercover assignment.

The officer, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Philippine Army, said the three detainees, whose names he declined to disclose pending further validation, were detained in connection with their alleged involvement in deadly bomb attacks.  

A provincial official, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said he has also been receiving information from constituents asserting that one of the three men is, in fact, a son of Kato.

“But we are still confirming this information from our friends in the local communities,” the source said.

The beleaguered Bongat, now subject of criticisms on Facebook and circulating text messages, earlier said the gunmen who attacked the jail were led by Commander Derby of the BIFF.

The BIFF has denied involvement in the attack.