Another Mandaluyong jail escapee back in police custody

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MANILA, Philippines—One of 10 inmates who escaped from a Mandaluyong jail surrendered to the authorities on Monday night, bringing to four the number of inmates back in the custody of the police.

Senior Supt. Armando Bolalin, Mandaluyong police chief, said Mark Louie Burilla, 24, was turned over by Armando Enaje, chief of Barangay 598 in Sta. Mesa, Manila, to the police at around 10 p.m. Monday.

Burilla, who was booked for robbery charges, was the fourth inmate returned to police custody since last week when 10 inmates escaped by sawing off the steel bars of their detention cell.

The inmates had apparently used the saw, which a visitor had smuggled into the prison, while nobody was looking.

The policemen who were tracking Burilla through his recent address sought the help of Enaje in convincing the inmate to surrender.

“He has already gone to Bicol province to hide. But his aunt, who still lives in Sta. Mesa, Manila, helped us contact him,” Enaje said.

Enaje managed to persuade the man to give himself up to the police.

“I told him he was too young to be a fugitive and it would be better if he faced the charges in court rather than constantly run away from the police,” he said. “He will possibly endanger his life and his family by refusing to surrender,” he said,

Burilla, a native of Bicol, gave some thought to the local official’s advise and immediately boarded a bus back to Manila.

Enaje said he met the inmate on a street at the boundary of Sta. Mesa, Manila and Quezon City and brought him to the Mandaluyong police station.

Bolalin said, on the other hand, the tracker teams of the Mandaluyong police sent to hunt down the escapees were still looking for six other men—Reynaldo Elligo, Joel Capule, Rolando Palmenco, Rommel Abarca, Mark Agujo and Melgar Quinones.

Last week, Valentino Gianan, Henry Andrade and Gabriel Gonzales gave themselves up to authorities.

All of them claimed that the other inmates, who were accused of committing non-bailable offenses, goaded them into escaping and told them that the police will hurt them if they chose to stay behind.