New warden starts changes in Second Chance

THE top of a perimeter fence is now covered with nets to prevent drugs being thrown inside Operation Second Chance in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.

The minors are also separated from older wards pending construction of permanent quarters.

These are some of the changes implemented by the warden Insp. Merlina Metante shortly after she re-assumed management on Monday of the youth center for children in conflict with the law, said Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña.

A surprise inspection last Tuesday uncovered knives and other bladed weapons, cellular phones, chargers and lighters from the cells.

“Imagine, they had all these things with them all the while,” said Osmeña, a member of the OSC management board.

She said the center’s former warden, Senior Insp. Elsie Eireen Alcomendras, could have failed to look into these prohibited items because she was afraid of the occupants.

Alcomendras was new in her position when boys in OSC staged a noise barrage and held hostage a jail guard in March to complain about being maltreated by jail guards in the the center.

Osmeña recounted her conversation last week with Alcomendras, who cried after admitting she was scared of the older wards in the center and asked to be replaced by Metante, who used to head the center.

Osmeña said that since her assumption on Monday, Metante started implementing changes and separated the minors from wards who were 18 years old or older.

Of the center’s 100 wards, 60 of them are already aged 18 or older with the passage of time.

Minors are not supposed to be detained in jail under the Juvenile Justice Law, but youth offenders are kept here in OSC pending the resolution of their cases.

With the help of a private donor, a net was recently installed above the concrete perimeter fence shared with the Cebu City Jail next door.

The protective net was added to prevent the entry of illegal drugs, which was was being tossed over the fence in a practice called “bombing”.

Jail authorities discovered the modus operandi after the arrest of a visitor who tried to smuggle marijuana and Nubain ampules in noodle packs. They learned that visitors used the center as the launch pad for “bombing” drugs into the Cebu City jail and that drugs were also being thrown into the OSC.

A P600,000 outlay has been set aside by the Cebu City Council for renovations to build a separate area for overage wards but has not yet been used.

“I have asked Dr. Ester Concha to make this a priority,” said Osmeña, referring to the city social welfare officer.