2 Cavite jail officials, jail guard axed over jailbreaks

TRECE MARTIRES CITY — A series of jailbreaks at the Cavite provincial jail recently has prompted Gov. Ayong Maliksi to order the relief of two provincial jail officials and a jail guard after an extensive investigation.

Last April 27, inmate Maem Sarip, 19, who was arrested for frustrated murder last Aug. 6, escaped from the provincial jail by allegedly paying a large sum to jail guards.

Alarmed by three earlier jailbreaks, Senior Superintendent Roberto Rosales, Cavite police director, filed last February administrative and criminal cases against provincial jail warden Dante Malabanan, his assistant, Severino Lubigan, and jail guard Oscar Mendoza. He also requested Maliksi to suspend the three.

Acting on the resolution of the probe panel, Maliksi immediately relieved Malabanan, Lubigan and Mendoza from their posts as part of the revamp of the provincial jail.

Lawyer Leilani Dacanay-Grimares, chief of the provincial legal office and a member of the probe panel, said they found out that it has been the practice of the provincial jail officials "to allow inmates to go out for varied personal and political reasons, which is against the policy of our criminal system."

But Grimares lamented the lack of jail guards "to effectively implement criminal law in the province."

"Thus, there is really a need to improve the structure of our provincial penitentiary," she said.