Capitol orders relief of CPDRC warden

CEBU, Philippines - The warden of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center was ordered relived from his post for allegedly trying to cover up the riot inside the jail two weeks ago that killed an inmate and seriously wounded another.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday admitted she has not yet made up her mind on where to reassign CPDRC warden Alito Gabuya but she added he should be transferred to another department so he could take his hands off the jail operations.

The governor added this would also prevent Gabuya from influencing the ongoing investigation conducted against him by the Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CODI) chaired by lawyer Lito Astillero.

However, it was not yet known when Gabuya’s relief as warden will take effect and who will take over his post.

Garcia also announced yesterday that the Provincial Social Welfare Office has already informed the hospital where Benjie Ondet, the seriously injured inmate, was confined that the provincial government will be the one to pay for his medical expenses including all the medicines that he needed to take.

Ondet sustained severe injuries after he was mauled by at least 16 inmates two weeks ago while he was being investigated for allegedly threatening the life of one of the trustees of the provincial jail.

Garcia said an investigation is also being conducted against the 16 inmates who allegedly started the brawl that killed Angelo Cabalquinto and severely injured Ondet.

This as she welcomed the parallel investigation to be conducted by the Commission on Human Rights as long as it has coordination with her office.

Earlier, Garcia instructed CODI to investigate reports on the alleged mauling incident at the CPDRC, including Gabuya for relying “on wrong information” from inmates for his official report about the death of Cabalquinto and injury of Ondet to the Office of the Governor.

In his report, Gabuya said Cabalquinto died after he got outbalanced while hanging his clothes.

However, CODI found out during investigation that the inmate died after a brawl inside the jail facility. – THE FREEMAN