Iloilo district jail warden relieved over bloody brawl

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—The warden of a district jail in Iloilo City has been relieved by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology following the wounding of four inmates in a melee on Monday.

BJMP Western Visayas director Chief Superintendent Ignacio Panti relieved Superintendent Simeon Delojo as warden of the BJMP Iloilo City jail in Barangay Ungka in Jaro District on Monday after four inmates were stabbed inside the facility.

Panti appointed Chief Inspector Rafael Cabantud as officer-in-charge of the jail, which has 696 inmates.

Cabantud said Tuesday that the BJMP was conducting an investigation into the incident to determine the liabilities of the inmates involved and possible lapses of jail personnel.

The four inmates, facing murder and drug charges, suffered stab wounds after they were allegedly attacked by brothers George and Joel Barsibas inside the jail compound Monday morning.

In an earlier interview, Police Officer 3 Jerwin Servano, investigator of the Jaro police station, identified the wounded inmates as Elmer Delgado, 34; Edison Espago, 32; Rey Cataluna, 25; and Jed Refugio, 27.

They were brought to the Western Visayas Medical Center for treatment.

Servano said the brawl occurred during a meeting among the inmates around 9 a.m.

Joel first stabbed Delgado with a pair of scissors during a shouting match. His brother George attacked Refugio when the latter tried to pacify the inmates. The Barsibas brothers also stabbed and hit with a rock two other inmates, Cataluna and Espago, when they tried to intervene.

Cabantud said they would also investigate why a pair of scissors was allowed inside the prison cells when knives or pointed objects that could be used as weapons were prohibited.

The pair of scissors was believed to have been used in the making of Christmas lanterns by inmates, said Cabantud.