NBI guard helped Mancao escape?

A security guard assigned to guard Cezar Mancao II allegedly “assisted” the former policeman in escaping from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention facility, an official said yesterday.

The official, who requested anonymity, claimed that Ibrahim Musa knows the position of the closedcircuit television (CCTV) camera in the facility and made sure he would not be seen. However, circumstances point to the fact that he could have abetted Mancao by “omission,” he said.

Mancao, a day after escaping, told The STAR he used his own key to unlock the door of his detention cell. He said he then walked out of the building and scaled a fence.

CCTV footage showed Mancao leaving his cell at 1:14 a.m. on May 2, two days after the Manila regional trial court (RTC) ordered his transfer to the Manila City Jail.

The video showed Mancao, in a white shirt and baseball cap and carrying a black bag, almost stumbling in front of a white sport utility vehicle before walking out of range of the security camera.

‘On my own’

Mancao told The STAR his two guards were not involved in his escape, insisting he managed to give them the slip.

He said he was sad for the two guards, Pablo Remalante and Musa, who were charged with infidelity in the custody of a prisoner aside from administrative charges.

“No one helped me escape. I did it on my own and I am the only one responsible for what I did,” Mancao told The STAR in a telephone interview.

However, the official said Mancao was just trying to save the guards from being implicated. “He could not have done it alone. If you have seen the detention facility then you would understand what I’m saying,” he said.

The official alleged that Musa “took Mancao to his cell shortly after midnight and was never seen again on the security camera. It also took him a while to return to his post where the other guard was stationed. Where was he all the time?”

The same source said Musa was still inside and was watching Mancao walk out of the detention facility.

Asked what would motivate a security guard to help a high-profile inmate escape, the official said an inmate could establish a friendship with his custodian.

“Mancao is a very friendly person and very charismatic. It is not impossible for him to be close to anyone. There could also be promises. False promises or false hopes… either way we are looking at this angle very closely,” he said.

However, he clarified that the NBI has yet to come out with the full report of their investigation on Mancao’s escape.

A matter of time

The same official also claimed that the agents pursuing the fugitive former police official missed him by a few hours in a residential area in Tondo, Manila about two weeks ago.

“The men had monitored and triangulated the location of his cell phone and tracked it down in a busy residential area north of Manila. However, when they finally located the phone it was in the possession of a boy,” he said.

The source said Mancao is a counterintelligence officer and knows what he is doing. “Every move he does is well-planned and calculated. His acts are really aimed to taunt not only the bureau but the government,” he said.

He said Mancao’s act of posting photos of himself in a fastfood restaurant and in front of the Department of Justice is meant “to send subtle messages that he is very much around and he can do whatever he wants.”

“But he shouldn’t be too sure of himself. Sooner or later the long arms of the law will catch up with him,” the official said.