Detainee escapes after guard left him

A detainee of the Tabuelan Police stockade managed to escape after he was left alone outside his cell Thursday morning. The escape caused his policeman-guard a possible administrative charge for the lapse.

Cebu Provincial Police Office director Vicente Loot ordered Tabuelan Police chief Benrubio Seriognas to submit a report on the incident to determine the possible sanctions against PO3 Wilson Abot, the policeman assigned to guard inmate Eleazar Dura.

Abot first escorted Dura, who has a pending case for qualified theft and homicide, outside the cell for the usual "sunning session" at the left part of the grounds of the municipal building.

While outside, Abot heard the telephone from the nearby treasurer's office, the same phone used by the police, ring. Thinking the call was meant for the police, he rushed to answer the phone and left Dura.

This gave Dura the chance to escape as he quickly ran toward the road. Abot, together with a fellow policeman, tried to look for Dura but failed.

Loot said Abot should be slapped with an administrative charge for the incident because it was not his duty to answer a telephone call, since the desk officer is the one tasked to do the job. Loot said a policeman might be given consideration if the prisoner under his care escaped by destroying the prison bars. But the Abot case was different because leaving a prisoner alone outside the cell was laxity, he said. - Flor Z. Perolina