Third escapee yields; hunt on for 7 others

The number of escaped prisoners being sought by the Mandaluyong City police went down to seven after another one gave himself up upon the prodding of his mother Saturday morning.

Gabriel Gonzales, 26, who is facing theft charges, surrendered to his neighbor, PO1 Chad de Leon who is assigned to the Valenzuela police, instead of the Mandaluyong lawmen who had been keeping watch over his mother’s house on Que Grande Road in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City.

“He was scared of the (Mandaluyong police) so instead, he gave himself up to one of our men who lived just beside his parents’ house. He trusted him,” PO2 Michael Oxina said, referring to Gonzales.

According to Oxina, De Leon, upon being informed of the escapee’s desire to give himself up, called his partner SPO1 Rodel Pongyan. They then took  Gonzales to the Valenzuela City police headquarters around 2:30 a.m.

He was turned over to the custody of the Mandaluyong police before 1 p.m. yesterday.

Senior Supt. Armando Bolalin, Mandaluyong chief of police, said that they were following up leads on the whereabouts of the seven prisoners who remain at large following the jailbreak.

He refused to go into details.

Still being sought by his men were Reynaldo Elligo, Joel Capule, Rolando Palmenco, Rommel Abarca, Mark Lowie Burilla, Mark Agujo and Melgar Quinones.

Earlier, Valentino Gianan and Henry Andrade gave themselves up to authorities.

The jailbreak took place at the Mandaluyong police headquarters shortly before noon on Tuesday as 10 prisoners sawed  off some of the bars in their cell using a saw that had been smuggled into the prison by a visitor.

It led to the relief of Chief Insp. Numeriano Gabuya who headed the city police criminal investigation unit and SPO1 Julius Caesar Pinera, PO3 Julius Paoyo and PO2 Dante Alariao who were on duty at the time of the jailbreak.