CPDRC officials look for escapee in Negros

Officials of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center went to Negros Island yesterday to continue their manhunt operation against an inmate who escaped from the provincial jail last Monday.

The operation turned futile as the CPDRC officials failed to recapture Arnel Mait.

Marco Toral, consultant on jail management of CPDRC, said they received information Friday night that Mait went to Negros where his father came from.

They then proceeded to the province and went to a mountainous area in Calatrava, Negros Occidental.

Toral believed that Mait went to Toledo City and Tabuelan where there are ports going to Negros.

Toral, together with jail warden Romeo Manansala, left Cebu at 1 a.m. yesterday to find and supposedly arrest Mait in Negros.

Their mission, however, turned negative after finding out that Mait was not in their house in the province.

Toral said they immediately went back in Cebu yesterday. They are currently still coordinating with the police to locate and recapture the escapee.

Mait's escape caused the suspension of visits to the jail facility.

He was detained at the CPDRC in January for illegal drugs. He later complained that his wife was not visiting him anymore, thinking that she was having an affair with someone else.

Last Monday morning, when visitors went home after a midnight stay at CPDRC, Mait wore an ID and pretended to be one of them.

He also made his own "CPDRC" stamp which he put on his arm for the guards not to recognize him.

He successfully got out of the jail and it was only after more than two hours when CPDRC officials discovered that an inmate was missing after conducting the headcount.

Last Wednesday, Mait's fellow inmates raised P30,000 as reward money for those who can point or give information of his whereabouts. Part of the money would have been given to his family should he voluntarily surrendered.

On the same day, Toral got the chance to contact Mait and assured his safety in going back to the provincial jail.

Toral went to Argao the following day hoping that Mait would surrender and even gave P15,000 to his wife for livelihood.

But the inmate did not show up until late afternoon, prompting Toral to coordinate with the Argao police.