5 Navotas jail officers suspended, charged over jailbreak

MANILA, Philippines - Five officers of the Navotas City Jail were suspended for 90 days for “sleeping on their jobs” and allowing five inmates to escape last week.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo identified yesterday the suspended jail officers as Senior Inspector Manuel Serquina; Senior Jail Officer 3 Sencino Abrazaldo; Senior Jail Officer 1 Adan De Loza; Jail Officer 1 Loreto Edosor and Jail Officer 1 Enrico Velasquez.

Robredo approved the suspension orders based on the recommendation of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Director Rosendo Dial.

“I have ordered Dial to charge the erring jail officers, who were apparently sleeping on their jobs, with infidelity in the custody of prisoners under the Revised Penal Code,” Robredo said.

BJMP records indicate that last Jan. 23, five suspects facing charges for murder, illegal possession of firearms, illegal drugs and robbery escaped unnoticed from their cell by passing through the back portion of the facility.             

Senior Inspector Serquina and his men, who were supposed to be on duty at that time, learned only of the jailbreak after some of the inmates made noises about it.

“After the sentinels were alarmed by the inmates shouting regarding the jailbreak, they checked the rear portion of the jail. After a headcount that followed, the escape was confirmed,” Dial said in his report to Robredo.

The escapees were identified as Mark Anthony Austria; Lito Balongray; Daryl Salvador, Narciso Dicipulo and Alex Alejandro.

Alejandro was later recaptured at his aunt’s residence in Bustos, Bulacan by a tracker team from the BJMP led by Senior Inspector James Gingoyon. The four other escapees are still at large.

Robredo also ordered the Philippine National Police to assist the BJMP in the manhunt for the escapees.