Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday imposed a 90-day preventive suspension on acting jail warden Napoleon Miranda after video footage was leaked showing an inmate celebrating a party in the warden’s office.
She is also thinking of moving out the detainee, ex-mayor Alfredo Arsenio of Aklan province, who has been repeatedly reported as enjoying special privileges in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).
“This inmate (Arsenio) is causing us a headache,” said Lito Astillero, head of the Capitol committee on discipline and investigation.
Astillero said the governor is considering transferring Arsenio to another prison facility.
Arsenio is on trial for the 2004 murder of Bombo Radio station manager Gerson Hinolan in Aklan province.
In a press conference yesterday, Astillero said the warden admitted allowing the entry of food during the birthday of Arsenio.
“What Miranda did was against policy. He acted on his own and did not even bother to consult Atty. Jose Maria Gastrado, Capitol consultant on jail matters,” Astillero said.
Saturday is not a regular visitor’s day for detainees in CPDRC, he confirmed.
The video was taken by security cameras outside the warden’s office.
“We will try to review our stupidity,” Astillero said in response to the statement of Assistant State Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila that the repeated incidents of lax security for the inmate only showed “stupidity” in the handling of detainees.
This is the second time in barely two months that a CPDRC warden was sacked for showing special treatment of Arsenio. Miranda replaced Alger Comendador as warden in February after Arsenio was spotted by news reporters eating lunch in a restaurant with his jail guard after a court hearing at the Palace of Justice.
Miranda will face an administrative charge of serious misconduct before the Capitol CODI.
He was replaced by assistant warden Romeo Manansala.
Governor Garcia has also decided to shuffle the security guards at the CPDRC every two months to avoid familiarity with inmates and their visitors. /with reports from Carmel Loise Matus, Correspondent