5 Iloilo inmates give selves New Year’s Eve furlough

ILOILO CITY — Five inmates bolted the district jail here to spend New Year’s Eve with their families, then surrendered yesterday to police.

Leony Gamboa, Dennis Paderog, Leo Glory, Ernesto Guillergan and Denmark Jeoterial escaped from their Bureau of Jail and Management cells early Wednesday morning to greet their loved ones a happy New Year.

Guillergan later told police they had planned their escape weeks ago, sawing the steel bars of their cell little by little. He said they had no intention of running away from the law but merely wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with their families.

Chief Inspector Ramon Alor, deputy district jail warden, said he was happy the inmates surrendered after just a day of freedom.

Alor said the five inmates have different cases pending in court and were not yet due for transfer to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.

Alor, however, said that despite the surrender, some of the escapees’ privileges have been suspended.

The inmates surrendered yesterday morning to officials of Barangay Tacas of Jaro district here and the police.