Guards foil escape try of murder suspect
Security up on 40 others in busted cell
Iloilo -- An otherwise smooth transfer of 851 Ilonggo inmates, mostly facing murder and rape charges was marred Saturday by a daring escape made by one murder suspect. Forty others were believed to have followed suit had it not been for the immediate reaction of alert jail guards of the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center (IRC).
The felon, Joemarie Fajardo apparently had no plans of joining fellow detainees in the new IRC in Pototan, Iloilo as he apparently took advantage of the 'frenzy' during the last hours of the full transfer.
Yet in less than 5 seconds of freedom and sunlight, Provincial Guard (PG) 2 Melver Pendon cut-short any further escape as one single shot was fired to warn him from making another step.
Fajardo was then on the rooftop of an adjoining room by the main building after successfully bolting detention from a busted wall of Selda Dyes.
This occurred as about a hundred inmates of the main building began to take turns in last minute checks prior to boarding the IRC vans that were to take them to their new home in Barangay Nanga of said town. About a meter wide of opening was made and served as escape route.
A native of Calinog, Iloilo, Fajardo stands accused of murder and frustrated murder. His escape try guaranteed him the first-day stay in the new IRC's maximum security cell. Security was further heightened in forty other Selda Dyes inmates particularly since jail authorities discovered the gaping hole used in the escape. No way it was done by one man, an IRC insider told The News Today (TNT) with the tool used yet to be identified or recovered.
As the emergency was sounded off, some forty jail guards immediately took positions and secured the batch of inmates that was to leave. A call for augmentation was then made and in minutes, operatives of Police Precinct 1 of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) arrived to help secure the area.
Fajardo and the 40 others were then transported first as thorough checks were made by the IRC gate, the group cuffed in twos.
Saturday's transfer began 3 a.m. with the first trip comprised of the 17 juveniles, 20 women detainees and 8 senior inmates. The 'shipment' then went on in a batch of 100 inmates on board the five IRC vans as police checkpoints were conducted in the two Iloilo towns where the group was to pass.
The transfer went on as planned with no further escape-try or hitches reported. Today all 851 inmates begin rehabilitation and detention in the new IRC, including the ten convicts who will soon be transported to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa.
The transfer as pushed was due to the worsening and cramped conditions in the old IRC with the building built back in 1911. Any and all improvements made thereafter failed to answer the needs of the growing IRC detainees with one cell overcrowded and occupied three times beyond its capacity.
Retired Police Senior Supt. Juan Mabugat, IRC warden, has since said the new site will ensure better rehabilitation and detention.