Kidapawan City gov't asks court to stop transfer of inmates from North Cotabato

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines - The Kidapawan City government on Tuesday asked the judiciary not to transfer to the city’s detention facility 12 detainees at the North Cotabato provincial jail being prosecuted for heinous offenses.

Members of the Kidapawan City council had passed a resolution urging three presiding judges of different local courts to rescind their separate directives to transfer the high-risk inmates following last week's turn over to the city jail of detainee Jack Moro, a notorious drug trafficker.

The resolution was authored by Francis Palmones, a former judge, who had cited in the document the security constraints the local communities could face if the 12 prisoners are detained at the city jail.

Local officials are worried of a repeat of the bungled attempt more than two years ago by dozens of gunmen to spring from the city jail a high-profile detainee, Datukan Samad, charged with multiple murders, drug trafficking, highway robberies and cattle theft.

Three Kidapawan City residents, among them a responding Red Cross volunteer, were killed in the incident.

The followers of Samad, most known as “Lastikman,” set off improvised explosives and shot buildings around with assault rifles as they fled after failing to breach the gate of the city jail, whose keepers on duty engaged them in a fierce firefight that forced them to scamper away.

Samad is now clamped down at the Maguindanao provincial jail in Cotabato City.

The council’s resolution also sought the transfer to courts outside of Kidapawan City the litigation of criminal cases involving high-risk prisoners.

Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista had said they are now waiting for the three judges to act on the resolution.

He said he is optimistic the judges will decide on the request favorably to prevent putting in endanger the lives of people either working in offices, or residing in houses in the immediate periphery of the city jail.

Evangelista said the city government has earmarked a P5-million allocation for the construction of a new city jail in an area far from the city center.