JAIL OFFICER RELIEVED; TOMAS OFFERS HELP

A jail official says JO1 Myron Garcia did not use excessive force when he shot dead an alleged smuggler of cigarettes in the Cebu City Jail ‘in self-defense.’ Mayor Tomas Osmeña says he is willing to provide legal assistance to Garcia and may provide him

The jail officer who killed a suspected cigarette smuggler and wounded a cohort last Tuesday was relieved from his duties in the Cebu City Jail.

Chief Supt. Arnold Buenacosa, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology 7 director, issued the order after the incident involving JO1 Myron Garcia, who admitted shooting the suspects in self-defense.

The fatality was identified as Edilberto Edlisan, a resident of Sitio Cagudoy, Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.

Ariel Candumay was wounded, while two of their companions escaped arrest.

In City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is willing to provide legal assistance to JO1 Garcia.

Osmeña said that as long as the jail officer was just doing his job to secure the facility, he is willing to support him.

“I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know if it’s legal or not but when someone is doing something illegal and doesn’t like to surrender, then shoot him. If he asks for assistance, we will provide some assistance. People who are doing their job, we have to tell them that as long as you’re doing your job, we will support you,” the mayor said in his news conference yesterday.

Osmeña said he can ask private lawyers to defend the jail officer.

He said it was his policy to give P50,000 to police officers who shoot a criminal in the line of duty, not as a reward but to assist the law enforcer with his legal defense.

But as to the jail officer’s case, Osmeña said he will only provide a lawyer if he needs one.

Buenacosa said that several inmates sneaked in cigarettes inside the jail as it is a lucrative business, with a stick selling for P200 each. An inmate can sell a pack of 20 cigarette sticks for as much as P4,000.

He said that Edlisan and Candumay were caught smuggling cigarettes in the past, but they were not apprehended.

The city jail had asked for help from tanods of Barangay Kalunasan in warning the smugglers to stop their illegal activity, but to no avail.

The smugglers sneak in the contraband by placing the items inside a bucket, which is tied to a rope.

The inmates who are in cahoots with the smugglers then pull it inside the city jail.

Buenacosa said cigarettes are considered contraband inside the jail, just like illegal drugs and bladed weapons.

The jail official welcomed other agencies, including Commission on Human Rights 7, to investigate the incident. He denied they used excessive force, saying one of the suspects aimed at Garcia.

“It was a reasonable force,” he told reporters yesterday.

The Cebu City Police Office will not investigate the incident unless Edlisan’s family files a complaint against Garcia.