Two QC jail guards probed for extort

Two Quezon City jail guards will be investigated for extortion after the wives of inmates positively identified them as the ones who collected P300 from them in exchange for allowing them to visit their husbands.

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology director Aquilino Jacob presented yesterday Jail Officers 1 John Barrios and Keithley Almazen together with other jail guards in a line up.

Barrios and Almazen were identified by the wives of three inmates who were asked to give P100 each to the two jail guards for the privilege of staying with their husbands in their detention cells even after visiting hours.

Jacob ordered an investigation of the two jail guards for extortion and violation of policy on visiting hours which starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m.

The two jail guards, both detailed at the gate of the Quezon City Jail, allowed the three women to visit their husbands last night after they paid the guards.

They were positively identified during a line-up by Sarah Mendoza, 18, Evelyn Colligado, 23, and Emma Esteban who were allowed to enter the gate last Sunday at around 9 p.m.

Jacob also said that all kinds of preventive measures have been instituted by the BJMP so jailguards do not violate the rules, but still some cannot avoid the temptation. According to Jacob, the two jail guards would undergo a thorough investigation.

Jacob added that he promised the three complainants that their husbands would not be harmed inside the Quezon City Jail.

"Kapag nasaktan o nasaling man lang ang dulo ng buhok ng kanilang mga asawa, ang jail warden na ang mananagot dito," Jacob stressed.– Pia Lee-Brago