Police sifting for motive in killing of guards, inmate

CEBU CITY — Police are looking at several angles in the killing of two jail guards and a high-profile inmate Thursday in Barangay Kalunasan here.

Sr. Supt. Royina Garma, Cebu City police chief, said rivalry among drug traffickers could be the motive in the killing of drug suspect Jerryfer Perigrino and prison guards Bernie Bayutas and Joel Tevez.

Garma said it is also possible that the assailants just wanted to shame the police. “Maybe they just wanted to prove that they can outsmart the police,” she said.

It is also likely that Perigrino was killed to silence him. During previous police interrogations, he had identified another highprofile inmate, Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro, as the one responsible for the proliferation of illegal drugs at the Cebu provincial jail.

“Maybe he was killed because he squealed. That’s how dirty the illegal drug trade is,” said Garma.

The case also intrigues the police chief because the killers’ assailants did not spare the two jail guards.

Bayutas and Tevez were among the guards being investigated by the Capitol’s Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CODI) over allegations that some guards are in league with inmates who were trafficking drugs inside the jail.

Despite the ambush, other inmates had no reason to fear for their safety especially while they are being brought to court for hearings on the cases, Garma said.

Garma also believed illegal drug activities continue to thrive in jails because of the involvement of some jail guards.

“You will not survive in the illegal drug trade if you don’t have connections,” she said.

Bayutas and Tevez were escorting Perigrino from the provincial jail to the Cebu City Hall of Justice when their vehicle was ambushed.

Garma shrugged off some speculations that popped up after two barangay-owned security cameras near the crime scene went dead hours before the attack and were restored a few minutes after the incident.

“That’s what we call coincidence,” Garma said.