Their guards dead drunk, 8 Albay inmates escape

LEGAZPI CITY – While their guards were sleeping reportedly after a drinking bout, eight inmates of the provincial jail here, led by a former New People’s Army rebel, made good their escape by sawing off the iron grills of their cell before dawn yesterday.

The escapees were identified as former guerrilla Allan Ocfemaria, who is charged with car theft; murder suspects Rodolfo Dacillo, Edwin Riglos, Felizardo Gonzales, Narciso Dinbanico and Richard Bea, and rape suspects Arnold Burceles and William Nasayao.

Probers said the eight inmates used a steel saw, believed smuggled in by their relatives, to cut iron grills about 10 to 15 feet long, bore a hole through the ceiling, and scaled the 11-foot high perimeter fence using a mosquito net.

The escapees’ 10 co-cellmates did not join the jailbreak.

Being investigated for the escape are four jail personnel who were reportedly sound asleep after a drinking bout the previous night.

Senior Superintendent Pedro Tango, Albay police director, has ordered the police units in Sto. Domingo, Daraga and Camalig towns to put up checkpoints along possible escape routes of the eight jailbreakers.