Fugitives still on the run
ESPINOSA
Retired Police Senior Superintendent Juan Mabugat, warden of the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center (IRC) is confident of a capture on the three murder suspects discovered to have bolted jail early Tuesday morning.
And it is just a matter of "little time," Mabugat added while saying "we will definitely get them, dead or alive."
The fugitives, 26 year-old Mario Lozada of Ipil, Calinog, Iloilo is accused in a double murder case, 46 year-old Mamerto Barranco of Januiay, Iloilo on the 1999 killing of policeman and the ‘mayor the mayores,' 32 year-old Vincent Espinosa of Lemery, Iloilo also for a murder case now pending before Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 66 in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo.
BARRANCO
Latest tips from intelligence sources out on the continued manhunt placed the trio still within the province with the warden confirming that "special attention" was given to three Iloilo towns, Pototan, Zarraga and Dumangas. Mabugat opted not to further elaborate on said information.
Three teams from the IRC had since been deployed immediately after the escape as police forces from various police offices provided back-up.
On the third day of the manhunt, appeals for voluntary surrender remain alongside the warning to the public that the escapees are considered to be armed and dangerous. Family members and associates of the fugitives were also warned against coddling the trio lest they will be charged of harboring the criminals.
LOZADA
Meantime, the fate of 16 (not 15 as earlier reported) jail guards on duty last Tuesday hangs with the warden saying an "elimination process" is underway to determine those to be held most liable.
This, as Mabugat insists that it was human error and not the multi-million building itself that brought the easy escape.
An order was also out to temporarily suspend the rights and privileges of the eleven inmates who were also in cell 58 that escapee Espinosa leads.
As such, cellmates Baltazar Belleza, Jose Causing, Conrado Cuenca, Elmer Egalen, Allan Mahilum, Joseph Dagohoy, Ernesto and Juanito Genecera, Roselo Gonzales, Roque Navales, and Nestor Pareja will not be accorded with IRC right to visit, right to sunning and all other activities "until further notice." The suspension was ordered by the warden.
To recall, the jailbreak was discovered after Tuesday's 4 a.m. headcount with the trio unaccounted for by jail guards inside cell 58 of the IRC's Area 4 in the second floor.
Initial investigation point to a guitar string that was supposedly used to finely cut through a prison bar of the cell's window.
Board Member Angelo Briones, chair of the Capitol's Committee on Public Order and Security made an ocular inspection of the jail premises Wednesday. Briones expressed surprise and wonder on the manner of the escape particularly with the supposed escape route appearing to be "nearly impossible" for anyone to go through.
"We will evaluate everything and find out what really happened here," he told reporters present for the inspection.
Briones for his part echoed appeals for the escapees' surrender saying "the sooner the better for everybody but especially for them, the fugitives."
IRC is home to over 1,000 inmates facing drug charges, rape, murder and kidnapping for ransom cases.
Majority of those reached by The News Today for reaction expressed disgust on what happened particularly since extra security also meant "unscheduled" adjustments to over-all in-house jail security.
While only the trio's cellmates faced specific suspension of "rights," the inmates similarly said the escape fired anew the mistrust between them and the jail guards.
If and when captured, the escapees will have to be separated from the rest, both as sanction and protection from fellow inmates angered by the escape.