3rd ID jail inmate commits suicide

CEBU, Philippines - A Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) inmate detained at the facility of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division headquarters at Camp Peralta in Jamindan, Capiz died Saturday after reportedly killing himself.

Major Ray Tiongson, 3rd ID spokesperson, said the inmate, Leonidico Dieto, was found with an electric cord tied on his neck and hanged on the ceiling inside the comfort room of his detention cell.

Dieto was charged with murder but was scheduled for discharge next year. He was the same prisoner who bolted his prison cell Thursday, the day he and his fellow inmates were supposed to be brought back to the BuCor facility in Leyte, said Tiongson.

Dieto was however cornered by combined military and police forces Friday afternoon at Brgy. Jaena Norte, Jamindan town, and was taken to Camp Peralta Station Hospital for medical exam before he was brought back to his detention cell.

Tiongson said that, before Dieto bolted his prison cell, he stabbed his fellow inmate. “For now, we are still investigating the incident and the motive why he took his own life,” he added.

A native of Cebu, Dieto was one of the 50 BuCor minimum security inmates brought to Camp Jamindan in August 2011. The inmates from the Leyte Regional Prison (LRP) in Abuyog, Leyte have been co-living with 3rd ID personnel in the 33,310 hectare-camp.

Part of the MOA stipulated that both parties agreed that BuCor shall provide the 3rd ID a number of inmates who were classified minimum security inmates.

The 3rd ID provided the housing of inmates in a specific place inside the military reservation with the inmates’ subsistence provided by BuCor, whose guards supervised the inmates through their stay inside the military camp. (FREEMAN)