City jail warden assures: Inmates secured to and from court

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Jail Warden Renante Rubio assured that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology will provide adequate security for inmates being transported to attend court hearings.

This was his statement after the ambush of two jail guards and one inmate of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Barangay Kalunasan yesterday morning.

“We will give adequate security kay ato man ‘nang trabaho. Dili man pod pwede nga dili nato paadtoon ang inmates sa korte kay ma-contempt mi kon dili paadtoon. So, dungagan lang ang security,” Rubio told reporters yesterday.

The Cebu City Jail Male Dormitory and Female Dormitory are located just a few meters away from the CPDRC in Barangay Kalunasan.

If there are validated threats, Rubio said he will ask Cebu City Police Office for additional police escorts in transporting inmates from the jail to the court.

As of now, he said the police already responded to the request of City Councilor David Tumulak for the deployment of policemen along the route to and from court and the jail.

Rubio also said 83 percent of the 5,000 inmates in the jail are there because of drug-related cases.

In previous surprise inspections, also called greyhound operations, he said they were still able to confiscate drug paraphernalia that is why he cannot say that the jail is drug-free.

However, he said the most recent operation yielded no shabu from inmates, but from visitors and packages from outside the facility.

“Ang akong masulti ani, magtinarong ra g’yud ug undang sa mga binuang. Dili ta kabalo basig ang mobuhat ani is kontra nila sa negosyo. Basig daghan mosakay ba. Dili ta kahibalo kinsay motira ana. Pwede ang mga kalaban sa negosyo or kaaway nila sa gawas,” he said.

“Dako na ang kalahian compared sa una. Karon, naay naka-isolated cell. Ang mga mayor (head of the inmates) nidakop kay naay contact sa gawas. So dili na sila ganahan ma-involve ani. Sila na mismo ang nag-police sa ilang kaugalingon,” he added.

When sought for comment, Tumulak said he got information that there are inmates who are now hesitant to attend their hearings because of the ambush that killed prisoner Jerryfer Perigrino, alias “Kano,” and Prison Guards 1 Bernie Bayutas and Joel Teves.

He urged the police to thoroughly investigate the ambush to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

Tumulak, chairman of council’s committee on peace and order, asked the police for continuous foot patrols in areas where BJMP vehicles will pass through en route to and from the jail and the court.

“Right after sa nahitabo sa Talisay, naay inmates nga dili na mo-attend sa court hearings. Kinahanglan motambong sila kay magdugang sa backlog sa korte man na,” he told reporters, referring to an incident where three inmates were killed after a BJMP van was strafed last July in Talisay City. (FREEMAN)