CV police told to keep an eye for Leyte jail escapees

CEBU, Philippines - Believing that there are still a lot of escapees from Leyte jails now hanging around in Cebu, the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 has warned all its units to closely monitor their respective areas of jurisdiction.

Supt. Pablo Labra II, head of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID)-7, said he issued a memorandum to the provincial and city directors in Central Visayas, particularly in Cebu, to watch out for the escapees, who might have blended with the thousands of fleeing refugees to evade Leyte police.

“Since Cebu man maoy duol sa (is closest to) Leyte and naa ta diri (there is) available transportation para sa laing lugar, dako gyud ang posibilidad na dia pay daghan diri (in going to other places, there is a big possibility that there are more of them here),” he said.

He was referring to the arrest of human trafficking suspect Miriam Garcia last Tuesday by a Leyte jailguard in a downtown department store in Cebu City.

Garcia was among the 161 prisoners who managed to “escape” several jail facilities in Tacloban City at the height of typhoon Yolanda last Nov. 8.

The wife of prison guard Jeizen Rey Udtujan, himself among the refugees who left Tacloban, recognized Garcia while they were inside a shopping center.

Udtujan and his wife immediately coordinated with authorities. Responding Carbon Police Station operatives caught Garcia, who was sent back to Leyte Tuesday night escorted by Udtujan.

Another escapee, 33-year-old murder suspect Francisco Regis, was rearrested in Antequera, Bohol.

Labra said they have coordinated with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Leyte for the profiles and pictures of the escapees.

Earlier, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas said the 161 inmates were from the Tacloban City Jail, Leyte Provincial Jail, and two municipal jails and were able to escape at the height of typhoon Yolanda.

Most of the inmates, though, were allegedly deliberately released from their cells when the jails suddenly flooded because of the storm surge caused by the super typhoon.

The RID chief said he heard reports that the escapees allegedly signed a document where they agreed to come back to jail after some period of time, which he found hard to believe.

“What we’ve learned was naa’y ubang piniriso namalik ‘gyud after sa bagyo (there were really prisoners who did return); but two days later, ni-eskapo ra sad ang uban (there were those who left the jail again). Nibiya tungod sa kagutom ug kalisod sa lugar (They reportedly left because there was no food for them),” Labra said.

He said that for now, they have the names of most of the refugees who arrived in Cebu through a manifest they filled up; the police, however, were no longer able to get the names of the first batch of Tacloban residents to arrive here since they were already taken in by their relatives.

“We’re doing our best na ma-locate sila (them),” assured Labra.

Police desks are now set up in evacuation centers and sea ports, while processing desks were also established at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base for proper monitoring of arriving refugees.—(FREEMAN)