Escapee guard surrenders self

CEBU, Philippines - His yearning to be with his family was the reason behind his escape from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-Medellin Thursday morning, or so claims former security guard Berly Tudtud, who surrendered to the police yesterday.

Chief Inspector Hermano Mallari, Bogo City police chief, said that around 9 a.m. yesterday Tudtud, 39, married, of Sitio Laray, Barangay Bungtod, Bogo City, surrendered to PO1 Loliboy Terana in an abandoned warehouse on a sugarcane plantation in Barangay Pulambato.

Terana, a resident of Barangay Pulambato but assigned to the Borbon Police Station, then accompanied Tudtud to the Bogo City Police Station.

Attempted murder suspect Roger Lagahit, the inmate Tudtud escaped with last Thursday, remains at large and is still being sought by the Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Branch.

Mallari said Tudtud claimed he was only persuaded by Lagahit to escape. After the escaped Tudtud went to the house of her sister Luvimyn Tudtud-Suson and arrived there around 7 p.m. Saturday.

His sister and half-brother Andres Tudtud convinced him to surrender.

“Giingnan siya nga mas maayo pang mo-surrender aron dili mosamot kabug-at ang kaso nga iyang atubangon,” Mallari said.

Luvimyn later called Terana’s wife to tell her about her brother who was willing to surrender. Terana’s wife called her husband at work and Terana then went to get Tudtud at the warehouse.

Mallari said Tudtud also told him he hid in warehouse after leaving his sister’s house and only ate sugarcane to sustain himself. It was only at night when he would move about.

“Kitkit lang kuno siya ug tubo unya gabii ra iyang lihok aron kuno di siya sakpan,” Mallari said.

Tudtud was charged for robbery with homicide for killing fellow security guard Dean Deserto, 26, of Barangay Dakit, Bogo City; Deserto’s live-in partner Cecilia Torre, 30, also of Dakit; and Jenelyn Megabon, 26, of Medellin town, in Fair Bank in Daanbantayan town last New Year’s Eve.

He then ran away with the P80,000 cash from the steel cabinet of the bank and left for Negros Province where he was later arrested by the PIDMB.

The escape

Tudtud and Lagahit were seen by residents outside the jail jumping off from the perimeter fence of the BJMP while inmates were being let out for an hour of sunning and exercise Thursday morning.

The perimeter fence was about four meters tall and topped with barbed wire to prevent inmates from passing through, but Tudtud and Lagahit used a coco lumber plank to climb up the wall and made it through anyway.

Both were reportedly seen with wounds in different parts of their bodies due to the barbed wire.

It was during the headcount when BJMP personnel identified that it was Tudtud and Lagahit who had bolted. 

Superintendent Rodulfo Albotra Jr., PIDMB chief, said that a team led by Senior Inspector Ramil Morpos and Sr. Insp. Wilson Abot, is out to find Lagahit.  —/BRP (FREEMAN)