Escape from Crame: 2 cops sacked

Heads have started to roll following the escape of Pentagon gang leader Faisal Marohombsar and two other kidnapping suspects from Camp Crame last week.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday two jail guards were dismissed, two senior police officers suspended and 24 other guards shipped to a hardship post in the Cordilleras for negligence of duty.

The announcement was made during a press conference at Camp Crame, where outgoing PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza said police will not hesitate to shoot Marohombsar and the two other fugitives if they resist arrest.

Marohombsar, his follower Abdul Macaumpang and another inmate easily walked away from the high-security National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF) detention cell at Camp Crame in Quezon City before dawn Wednesday. The other fugitive, Rolando Patiño, had been jailed for his involvement in the killing of Young Officers’ Union spokesman Baron Cervantes.

The PNP has earned public ridicule for allowing a prisoner like Marohombsar to escape under its nose.

Mendoza said he has approved the dismissal from service of Police Officer 1 Rico Canico and PO1 Dante Repulledo of the Special Action Force (SAF) upon the recommendation of Director Lucas Managuelod, chief of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).

The two men had been the custodial guards at the time of the escape.

Suspended for 90 days were their supervisors, Senior Inspector Patricia Arumin and Inspector Bryan Demot, who were the duty officer and officer-in-charge, respectively, during the jailbreak.

According to the DIDM, the four officers "failed miserably to institute measures that would have avoided the occurrence of an escape."

"Demot and Arumin did not assign anyone to man the watchtowers, which is why the prisoners were able to go over the perimeter fence and scale the 12-foot high concrete wall," Managuelod said.

Transfer orders have also been issued for 24 NAKTAF guards. They will soon be performing jail duties in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Mendoza said the incident has brought great embarrassment to the entire police organization.

"We are all affected by this since NAKTAF is within Camp Crame," he said.

The PNP chief lashed out at the NAKTAF men for their lack of dedication and commitment to their oath of service.

"We in the PNP are committed to the service. We make sure that misfits are removed from the service," Mendoza said.

He said a massive manhunt has been launched for Marohombsar and the other fugitives. All regional PNP offices in the Visayas and Mindanao have been placed on alert.

"We all know that he (Marohombsar) is very dangerous. If he fights it out with arresting lawmen, there would be no other recourse but to shoot him," Mendoza said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina agreed that the fugitives should be brought back, dead or alive.

"There is no amount of penalties that can bring down the rage of our people and ease their cry for their recapture," Lina said during a press conference.

The PNP has dangled a P500,000 reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of Marohombsar, whose group was behind the abduction last year of Chinese engineers and Italian Catholic priest Fr. Giuseppe Pierantoni.

No betrayal?

While the people of Central Mindanao have hailed the intensified police operation to recapture Marohombsar, they believe that the Pentagon Gang leader would not be turned over to authorities even with the P500,000 reward.

"In our province he is known as the Maranao version of Robin Hood who is kind to the poor and needy. So how can ordinary people betray him? That is the reason why no one can locate him," said one close relative of the fugitive.

Local leaders in the towns of Malabang, Kalanugas, Ganasi and Sultan Gumander in Lanao del Sur said the Pentagon leader also has close links with religious leaders all over Mindanao.

"He donates money to the mosques in areas where he is hiding. He spends huge amounts for the medication of sick people whenever he collects money from his kidnapping operations," another source said.

Some relatives of the fugitive, however, said they would be glad if he is tracked down and shot on sight.

"He has brought nothing but shame to our family. Some of us have been forced to change surnames because of his activities," said one cousin. – With John Unson, Perseus Echeminada, AFP