Jail guards told: No Ampatuan escape jokes

MANILA, Philippines - Officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) relieved two jail guards over the weekend for cracking jokes about an alleged plot to free the prime suspects in the massacre of 57 persons in Ampatuan, Maguindanao last Nov. 23.

The BJMP has also ordered other jail guards not to follow the example of SJO3 Angeles Bio and SJO4 Kenneth Quilona, assigned to Metro Manila District Jail (MMDJ) in Bicutan, Taguig, who exchanged text messages in which they joked about allowing the Ampatuans to escape in exchange for P50 million.

The BJMP has also doubled security at the MMDJ, and Director Eugene Martin, chief of the Philippine National Police-Directorate for Intelligence, said they have intensified intelligence gathering to thwart any attempt to free the massacre suspects.

Investigators gathered that the reports of an alleged plot to free detained members of Ampatuan clan from the MMDJ are untrue.

The Ampatuans and over a hundred of their supporters have been implicated in the massacre of 57 persons, 30 of them members of media. Their bodies were buried in mass graves dug by a backhoe.

Lawyers of the victims’ families said they received information that 11 men of Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon, also implicated in the massacre, were transferred to the detention cell of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. The lawyers are now checking the details with the BJMP.

The STAR tried to contact BJMP director Rosendo Dial but his mobile phone could not be reached.