Tabuelan child killer locked in isolation

A WEEK after his arrest for killing his 6-year-old niece, Tabuelan resident Efren Matedios was moved to a solitary cell at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

Acting CPDRC Warden Algier Comendador told Cebu Daily News that the 29-year-old Matedios was kept away from other inmates due to his tendency to bite and spit at them.

Matedios has been recommended for a psychiatric checkup.

He refused to eat the jail’s food ration of sardines and rice, so he was given bread and water.

Jail guards often hear him mutter to himself, “Wala ko sala (I’m innocent).”

Comendador said he will invite a priest to pray over the inmate next Sunday.

The Tabuelan resident shocked neighbors when he attacked his niece last May 23, cut open her belly and ate her internal organs. He later said he was trying to stop her from changing into a “manananggal,” a mythical creature in Philippine folklore who is half human, half monster.

At the CPDRC, Comendador said they see to it that Matedios is fed and kept clean. He said he doesn’t believe the man is a drug user.

The consultant said he will ask the court to transfer the inmate to a mental facility in Mandaluyong since no one could help him at the CPDRC.

No psychiatric examination has been made yet.

Dr Susana K. Madarieta, regional director of the Dept. of Health, said she needs a formal request from the police for a psychologist from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center to evaluate him.

In any case, “Since he is a suspect in a heinous crime, he can’t be admitted to our facility like other patients,” she said.

Social workers are conducting a psychoanalysis assessment of the mother and grandmother of victim Lara Mae Concoles.

DSWD-7 spokesperson Jaybee Binghay said Tabuelan social workers are giving the family a stress debriefing “to release their emotional burden so they could unload their pain.”