Guard faces 90-day suspension for inmate’s lunch out

THE jail guard who allowed a detained ex- mayor of Aklan province to eat lunch at a restaurant after his court hearing instead of going straight back to his cell   faces a 90-day preventive suspension.

The Capitol’s Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CDI) recommended the suspension of jail guard Edison Ferraren after they received his explanation letter last Saturday.

The guard said he allowed former mayor Alfredo Arsenio to eat at  Sabel’s Restaurant near the Capitol at the request of his lawyer Edwin Musico.

Arsenio is facing murder charges for the gunslaying of Bombo Radyo station manager Gerson Hinolan eight years ago.

“It must be jail to court, court to jail. Any deviation  is punishable by termination,” said lawyer Lito Astillero, CDI head.

Astillero said the  guards ’explanation is the basis for CDI’s recommendation for a 90-day  preventive suspension  without pay  pending  investigation as provided in   Civil Service Commission rules.

The jail guard is an employee of the Cebu provincial government.

Last Saturday,  all escort jail guards of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) were briefed again on the right procedure of  handling inmates when attending court hearings.

Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has yet to act on the recommendation.

Arsenio’s detour was exposed by  Cebu Daily News and a  TV-5 crew who saw him in  the restaurant with his lawyer and jail guard,  and videotaped the inmate come out without handcuffs.

The venue of the trial was moved to Cebu City in 2008 after Hinolan’s family said Arsenio wields considerable influence in the town. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus