DILG suspends 5 ‘sleeping’ jail guards

Five Navotas City jail officers were ordered suspended for three months for “sleeping on the job” following the recent jailbreak of five detainees.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo ordered the suspension based on the recommendation of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)

director Rosendo Dial.

Supposed to be on duty at the time of the escape, the suspended officers were Senior Inspector Manuel Serquina and his four subordinates, namely Senior Jail Officer 3 Sencino Abrazaldo, SJO1 Adan De Loza, JO1 Loreto Edosor and JO1 Enrico Velasquez.

“I have ordered General 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.

Five crime suspects escaped from the Navotas City jail on January 23 around 4 a.m. They were identified as Mark Anthony Austria, Lito Balongray, Daryl Salvador, Narciso Dicipulo and Alex Alejandro.

Alejandro was recaptured at his aunt’s house in Lacierda in Bustos, Bulacan province, by a BJMP tracker team led by Senior Inspector James Gingoyon.

The five suspects, who were facing charges of murder, robbery, and illegal possession of firearms and prohibited drugs, reportedly escaped unnoticed from Cell No. 3 by passing through the jail’s rear exit. The jail officers only learned of the jailbreak after the other inmates made some noise, according to Dial’s report to Robredo.