PRO 7 to investigate jailbreak, says Asean summit not to blame
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meetings are not to blame for the the Compostela jailbreak.
There is only one detainee left to catch as the Compostela Police Station continued its manhunt against five escapees last Friday morning.
PRO 7 Director Noli Taliño said that before the deployment, the police stations’ personnel were considered to prevent incidents.
“We wouldn’t have pulled them out when it’s not viable. They should have have considered the efficiency of the police officers in their station,” Taliño said.
“We will have them investigated why someone managed to escape,” he added.
Chief Insp. Romeo Caacoy Jr., head of the Compostela police, said that they are still looking for escapee Nelson Agbay, who was detained over an illegal numbers game charge.
“We tracked them through their relatives’ information including our informants who helped us,” Caacoy said.
Caacoy said they recaptured two more escapees. Giovanni Tapayan was found in the mountain barangay of Talamban by the Police Station 8 of the Cebu City Police Office, while Joseph Mahinay was found in Liloan yesterday morning. The two other detainees, Joel Cuyos and Ruben Catipay, were recaptured last Friday.
Cuyos surrendered while Catipay was arrested in Compostela, said Caacoy. Catipay said that Agabay, the remaining escapee, masterminded the jailbreak.
Caacoy said they are planning to file another case against the detainees after the incident.
He said only 12 policemen were left in their station because the others were deployed to the Asean summit.
“We were forced to multi-task. The jail was really overpopulated, which led the escapees to find a way to break out,” Caacoy said.
He said this is the first time that a jailbreak happened in Compostela.
SPO2 Jaime Maroliña, duty jail officer and desk officer when the jailbreak happened will be investigated.
The detainees sawed off the iron grills of the gate.