Arrest warrant out against cop over detainee’s escape

A warrant of arrest was issued the other day against PO1 Walter Quirol, of the Carmen Police Station, who was facing a case for infidelity in the custody of prisoners when an inmate escaped from the police detention cell last month.

Inspector Carlos Reyes Jr., station chief of Carmen, said that Quirol was however able to post P6,000 bail and was not detained after the arrest warrant, issued by Municipal Trial Court-branch 6 Judge Alfredo dela Victoria, was served.

Reyes explained that last March 11 he filed the case against Quirol, who was the detention cell officer at the time when inmate Gelacio Villanueva Jr., who had a pending murder case, escaped.

Villanueva broke free from detention when Quirol allowed him to go out of his cell to see his wife Milagros Lumen who arrived for a visit.

Inmates are usually allowed to get out of the cell on Sundays when their relatives visit them, for as long as they stay near the police station. Quirol however failed to notice that Villanueva had already escaped, said Reyes.

Quirol, who is also facing an administrative case at the Police Regional Office-7, have continued to report to work but was no longer detailed to man the detention cell, said Reyes who is himself under threat of being ousted from his post due to the incident.

Despite Villanueva’s jailbreak, Sr. Supt. Carmelo Valmoria, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said he might not relieve Reyes yet from the Carmen station post.

Valmoria said he might even reconsider his earlier order of automatically replacing the chief of police of a town where a jailbreak occurred.

The Carmen incident was the fifth jailbreak in the province this year. The first one took place last February 12 at Consolacion where three inmates escaped from the police jail. The next day, Valmoria ordered the relief of all town police chiefs in case of a jailbreak in their area of jurisdiction.

Two days after the Valmoria order, eight inmates escaped from the improvised detention cell of the CPPO headquarters at barangay Sudlon, Cebu City,

Then last March 6, five inmates escaped from the detention cell of the Minglanilla Police Station, which was headed by Insp. Romeo Santander. This was followed two days after by the Carmen incident.

Four escapees were later arrested separately in Bogo where they were caught for sniffing rugby, robbery, and stealing a motorcycle. Two of the recaptured inmates were from Bogo City, one was from Tabuelan, and the fourth one was from Barili. — Garry B. Lao/RAE