Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina immediately ordered the relief of the Quezon City jail warden and three jail officers.
The six men, who fled onboard a waiting maroon Toyota Tamaraw FX outside the jail, were identified as Jaime Muog, Edgar Alvarez, Felicisimo Laygo, Benjamin Dy, Prieto Arena, and Antonio Tan.
Investigators said they destroyed the grills of their cell at about 2:50 a.m. and fled from the south side of the jail compound.
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) officials ordered a massive manhunt against the escapees, at the same time denying accusations that the suspects were actually "led out of jail."
"By the looks of it, the six men planned their escape for quite some time. But I don’t think that they were in cahoots with anybody inside," a BJMP official said in a telephone interview.
Authorities said that the suspected kidnappers cut off the iron grill of their cell at the Dormitory 6 annex building with the use of an improvised saw. The six men then went out the back entrance to avoid detection.
Oddly, not one of the jail guards on duty spotted them during the escape. The make-shift saw that the suspects used was recovered inside their cell.
"This is a really unfortunate incident. But rest assured that we are working non-stop until we have apprehended the escapees and put them back behind bars where they belong," newly installed Quezon City Jail warden Romeo Bio said.
Relieved from their post pending the filing of administrative and criminal charges were Quezon city warden Superintendent Emilio Culang, jail officers John Wahing, Joaquin Campo and Felix Marcos. They were said to have been "assigned somewhere else."
Culang was celebrating his birthday when Lina’s issued the order. Bio, the bureau’s logistic head, was his replacement.
In a directive to BJMP officer-in-charge Deputy Director Antonio Cruz, Lina said administrative and criminal charges for infidelity in custody of prisoners must be filed against the erring jail officials. – With Perseus Echeminada