10 Cebu jail guards face relief, probe

CEBU CITY – At least 10 guards at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) were recommended to be relieved and placed under investigation after 20 grams of shabu were discovered at the jail canteen last Tuesday.

CPDRC OIC Bobby Legaspi said the recommendation to relieve the guards was reached during the meeting of the jail’s task force Thursday morning. The recommendation will be submitted to Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III.

Also on Thursday, police made a surprise inspection of a cell at the Cebu City jail, where a suspected big drug dealer said to have links to drug traders at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) is being detained.

Cebu City police chief Sr. Supt. Joel Doria supervised the inspection of the cell of Archie Abellana, who was arrested last year.

Even while being detained, Abellana is able to communicate with his contacts at the NBP and arrange the sale of illegal drugs through his couriers in the city, according to sources.

The search, which lasted for an hour, failed to find evidence of Abellana’s illegal drug trade. Only plastic packs with traces of substance believed to be shabu and 12 ampules of nubain were recovered.

Sources said Abellana could have cleaned up his cell minutes before the inspection because the inspection team was not immediately allowed in.