Video shows inmate’s party held in jail warden’s office
After being videotaped eating out with his jail escort on unauthorized sidetrip to a restaurant, detained ex-mayor Alfredo Arsenio was again caught on camera enjoying special privileges.
This time, the former mayor of Lezo town, Aklan province, was videotaped celebrating his birthday in the office of the warden of the Cebu provincial jail.
A source showed Cebu Daily News screenshots of the jail’s closed-circuit TV camera focused just outside the office of Acting Provincial Warden Napoleon Miranda’s at noon of March 24, a Saturday.
It showed part of the celebration.
Two men and a woman, identified as Arsenio’s visitors, bypass inspection by security guards when they enter.
Saturday is not a regular visitors day for detainees in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.
The warden is seen coming out of his office and going back bringing a plastic bag. The warden opens the door and Arsenio is seen sitting without handcuffs.
The source said an advance party was already inside the room with the inmate and the warden.
The video shows Arsenio standing in the lobby outside the warden’s office greeting a woman visitor with an embrace. She carries what looks like a box of cake.
No jail guards are by his side.
A few minutes later, more of Arsenio’s visitors enter the lobby and go into the warden’s office bringing a large cooking pot and plastic bags of food.
A special report was sent two days after the incident to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s office.
Four days after the party, the warden issued a March 28 letter replacing two jail guards assigned in the CCTV control and monitoring room .
They were transferred to Arsenio’s escort team effective April 2.
In a phone interview, Capitol consultant Jose Maria Gastardo an investigation has already been made. Gastardo said the guards were reshuffled to address staffing problems in the jail.
Gastardo said he reminded Miranda of his responsibilities as warden, which means not giving special privileges to inmates no matter how influential they may be.
He would not confirm whether the inmate had indeed thrown a party in the warden’s office.
“I cannot answer you if there was a party, but there were footages and there is a picture that showed people bringing food. They were believed to be Arsenio’s visitors and they were received by the jail warden inside his office,” Gastardo said.
Gastardo said he Governor Garcia was aware of the incident and ordered an investigation done by Lito Astillero, chairman of the Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CDI).
Sought for comment, Asst. City Prosecutor Gandhi Truya said he will confer with other prosecutors and the Department of Justice (DOJ) how to address these repeated cases of favored treatment and lax custody of Arsenio, who is accused of shooting dead a Bombo Radyo station manager in Aklan.
“I’m really not surprised anymore when Arsenio’s accused of misdemeanor inside the jail,” Truya told Cebu Daily News.
“It would be better if we do something. We don’t know what will happen next. I believe it is no longer about the jail guards. Maybe the problem is in the policy already,” Truya said. Katreena Bisnar and Carmel Loise Matus, Correspondents with Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol
