2 inmates escape from police detention in Davao del Sur

BANSALAN, Davao del Sur – Two inmates at the police’s detention cell here escaped during a scheduled power outage late Friday afternoon, the authorities reported Saturday.

Senior Inspector Milgrace Driz, the town’s police chief, said James Lapis and Kamad Mangelen, who face robbery and drug charges, respectively, sawed off the iron grills of their cell’s upper window as darkness began to envelop the town around 6:30 p.m. Friday.

She claimed policemen and other inmates were so busy looking for emergency lights, although the brownout was previously scheduled, nobody noticed the two inmates cutting the iron grills.

Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Llanera, provincial police director, said an alarm for the escaped prisoners has been sent out as far as North Cotabato and other adjacent provinces.

Jailbreaks often occur in various detention facilities in Davao del Sur but efforts at recapturing the fugitives are not often successful. Out of the more than a dozen inmates who bolted the Davao del Sur Provincial Rehabilitation Center in December 2010, seven remain at large to this day.