City jail beefs up force after jailbreak threat
The Cebu City Jail has beefed up security personnel and limited the number of visitors it allows after the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which manages the facility, received information that inmates were planning to take people hostage and use visitors as human shields during a massive jailbreak.
Deputy Warden Francisco Pujol said the regional BJMP office received a threat at 5 p.m. yesterday that inmates were planning to stage a breakout using jail visitors.
Immediately after, jail personnel called the assistance of the Cebu City Police Office Special Weapons and Tactics, and the Guadalupe police station as additional forces.
He also said that part of the precautionary measure is the limit set for the number of visitors to just 20 per entry, until authorities confirmed it was safe.
“Kato nga informatiom came from the regional office, information na nagawa talaga kami ng action nakasalalay diyan ang safety ng piniriso at dalaw,” Pujol said. Each visitor, though, complained that they were just limited to five minutes.
Superintendent Arnel Peralta, Cebu City jail warden, requested for patience as they were still validating the reports.
“Akong giawhag sa atong mga dumadalaw, nga please be patient kay we are validating the information ang hostagetaking drama, as part of our precautionary measures ato una siyang i-regulate,” he said.
At the City Hall, Councilor David Tumulak, City Council chairman on public order and safety committee and deputy mayor for police matters, said additional jail guards from BJMP7 were deployed following the report.
He said he was the one who alerted the police after he knew about commotion at the facility yesterday to closely monitor the situation outside the facility if in case the threat will happen.
“Kay simbako og naay moeskapo taas kaayo og possibility nga mohimo na sila og crime, unsa man ni sila? Manulis, manguha og mga sakyanan. So kita mismo nga mga tawo diri sa gawas mamiligro,” he said.
“Ako sang hangyoon ang BJMP nga mo-coordinate sa atoang kapolisan. Kay nahitabo kagahapon og hangtod karon wala gyud even a single text or call gikan sa city jail ngadto sa atoang kapolisan sa pagpaalerto lang unta ba…. Sila-sila ra didto. Namiligro na hinoon ang city jail kung magkasamok na sila,” he added
He also requested Senior Inspector Francisco Pujol, assistant jail warden, as well as the respective leaders of each detention cell to monitor the rest of the inmates to deter those who are really thinking of escaping.
“So ang purpose nato ini atong i-tap kining mga mayors (leaders of cells) because we know kining mga inmates sila ra sad mobantay sa ilahang kauban. Tagaan nato og responsibilities ang mayores sa kada silda pagbantay sa ilahang kauban nga inmates nga kun ugaling adunay plano sila na mismo ang mopakgang (ug) dili na huwaton nga mahitabo ang insidente,” Tumulak said.
He denied that a commotion yesterday morning was caused by a hostage-taking. He said guests are temporarily barred from visiting the jail while the matter is being straightened.
He was hopeful that the visitors would understand the situation as they are just preventing untoward incidents from happening.
“Kay kun ugaling naay threat sabton sa nila kay risk baya na sa part sa BJMP, kun naay hostage of course sa visitors gyud, so it’s a risk,” Tumulak added.