Cops hunt jailbreakers in Surigao

Police have intensified their hunt for a Manobo clan leader accused of a mass abduction in 2009, who escaped from jail here with another inmate on Sunday.

Joebert “Ondo” Perez, 33, and Babring Tejero, 35, bolted from the Surigao del Sur District Jail by sawing off the steel bars at their cell and climbing over the concrete perimeter fence, according to Superintendent Martin Gamba, spokesperson of Caraga regional police.

“They leaped out unnoticed by the guards,” Gamba said.

Perez, a former militiaman, led a group of armed men who abducted 75 teachers and students of a village school in Prosperidad town in Agusan del Sur in December 2009. The seizure was sparked by a long-running bloody feud with the head of another Manobo clan in the municipality.

Perez has been charged with kidnapping, serious illegal detention and robbery, while Tejero is facing kidnapping and illegal detention charges.

Their escape was discovered during a head count of inmates at around 7 a.m. the next day, Gamba said.

Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel said in a text message to the Inquirer that he would relieve the warden as he ordered an investigation into the escape. Frinston L. Lim, Inquirer Mindanao