The jailbreak was discovered in the afternoon when some policemen noticed that a portion of the steel bars had been sawed off and 10 out of 28 detainees were missing, Senior Supt. Armando Bolalin, Mandaluyong police chief, said.
The escapees were facing various charges including theft, robbery and illegal drugs.
“They took advantage of the visiting hour which starts at 11 a.m. when the station was most crowded,” he said.
“(Sawing off the bars) is something that you can’t do in one hour so it must have be planned,” he said.
Bolalin said he had already formed three teams to hunt down the fugitives.
“We have tried looking for them in their addresses since it’s an instinct of an escapee to immediately go home. But we’ve found no one,” he said.
The jail is adjacent to the room of the Mandaluyong police’s criminal investigation unit.