6 prisoners escape from Cagayan jail

TUGUEGARAO City, Philippines—Six prisoners escaped from the Cagayan provincial jail here after threatening the guards with guns on Sunday morning, police said.

Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, Cagayan police director, said they were investigating how the inmates – Vincent Badajos, Jong Romero, Kevin Chua, Christopher Tazi, Harris Tazi and Agustin Cauilan – managed to sneak guns into their cells.

The prisoners, who bolted jail after forcing their guards to open their cells at 5 a.m., had been charged with murder, frustrated murder, robbery and car theft. The prisoners fled aboard two tricycles seen parked outside the prison compound.

Aplasca said Cagayan police officials have sent alerts and photographs of the escapees to police offices in Cagayan Valley so they could set up checkpoints in the province’s borders in Isabela, Apayao, Kalinga and Ilocos Norte to arrest them.