117 bladed weapons seized in Maguindanao provincial jail

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Jail guards confiscated over the weekend 117 bladed weapons found in crowded cells of the Maguindanao provincial jail, smuggled in by visiting relatives and friends of inmates.

There have been more than 10 jailbreaks in the facility in the past 10 years, the latest of which occurred in early 2013, involving nine prisoners, among them the notorious bandit Datukan Samad, who is facing multiple murders, cattle theft, robbery and drug trafficking cases.

Maguindanao Jail Warden Armando Baguaman, who led the confiscation of the knives, improvised claw hammers with pointed tips, machetes and hacksaw blades with sharpened edges, said the operation was meant to forestall security threats.

Baguaman, who assumed as Maguindanao's jail warden only last month, said they will now subject to extensive search all visitors of inmates to prevent them from smuggling in weapons and shabu.

He said they embarked on the surprise search for weapons in the detention cells after having been tipped off by confidential informants on a plot by a group of inmates to escape from the provincial jail.

The jail is located at the P.C. Hill in the center of Cotabato City, near military installations and the office of the city’s police director.

Baguaman said the provincial jail, designed only for a hundred inmates, presently accommodates 300, making the facility unsafe and difficult to manage.

He said Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, whose office has jurisdiction over the provincial jail, is planning to put up a new, bigger penitentiary in Parang town in the first district of the province.