Drugs problem hound Second Chance center

AN official of the Operation Second Chance expressed apprehensions that illegal drugs like marijuana and shabu are sneaked inside the facility.

Senior Insp. Elsie Eireen Alcomendras said the jailguards had once caught two rolls of marijuana inside the kitchen area of the facility.

But most of the time, she said, cigarettes were being thrown inside the facility.

Alcomendras said the young inmates used hand signs towards the children outside the facility, who would throw the cigarettes into the kitchen or gym area.

“Ilang puston ang sigarilyo, unya apilan og bato”, she said.

In the morning before the hostage taking incident, two children were apprehended after they threw cigarettes towards the jail facility.

Alcomendras said the two children were turned over to the tanods in Kalunasan.

Alcomendras who assumed the post in February 1, said she is worried that not just cigarettes were sneaked inside the facility but also drugs like shabu and marijuana.

Alcomendras said they are now conducting strict security and monitoring inside the facility to prevent this from happening.

She said they actually got some information about illegal drugs being sneaked inside the facility but they have not confirmed it, except the two rolls of marijuana that were thrown from outside in the kitchen area was a serious incident.

Cigarettes, Alcomendras said, is prohibited inside the facility because of their “no smoking” policy.

This  policy could have triggered the complaints of the inmates about maltreatment.

She said based on the statements of the inmates, they were maltreated by the jailguards

once they were caught smoking.

Yesterday, Alcomendras said, the seminar with the jailguards on how to handle the minor inmates pushed through.

But the visit of management board officials headed by Judge Olegario Sarmiento and Councilor Margot Osmena did not push through, according to Alcomendras.

Osmeña in an interview yesterday afternoon, said she was about to board a flight for Cebu from Manila because of her scheduled visit to the Operation Second Chance. It was not known on why the visit was canceled.

Osmeña said, the board will listen to Alcomendras suggestion on how correct the problems in the facility for juvenile offenders.

Osmeña said this incident did not happen before, “so why are the jailguards now at risk?’

The board will have a meeting on Wednesday at the sala of Judge Sarmiento to discuss the problem in the facility