2 inmates die in Negros jail

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Two inmates of the Negros Occidental Provincial Jail in Bacolod City had died, one after he was stabbed to death by fellow prisoners and another from a still undetermined cause, authorities said.

Irish Enrile, 28, of Valladolid who was facing homicide charges died at about 8:30 p.m. Monday after he was stabbed three times, NOPJ provincial jail warden Lt. Dionisio Silva said.

Silva said Enrile and his assailants were lining up to get water at the NOPJ when an argument broke out between them which led to the stabbing of Enrile.

Mario Aburido, 21, of Calatrava, who is detained for murder, armed with a sharpened spoon, and Rolando Ramos, 28, of Murcia , who is facing cattle rustling raps, and armed with an angle bar from a bunk bed, allegedly stabbed Enrile.

Abrido and Ramos were being investigated by the police and would be transferred to the new jail for detention to isolate them from the rest of the prisoners, Silva said.

On Monday morning, an inmate whom Silva identified only as Eduardo Francisco, 28,  of Murcia, and facing rape charges, was found dead in his bed at 6 a.m. from suspected “bangungot,” Silva said.

Bangungot is a term used in the Philippines for sudden unexplained death, usually among young men, during sleep.

An autopsy was conducted late Monday to determine his actual cause of death, Silva added.

The deaths occurred while the provincial government has began transferring inmates to the newly-built Negros Occidental District Jail in Barangay Tabunan, Bago City which cost more than P100 million.

So far, 63 inmates of the NOPJ have been transferred to the new jail in Tabunan, with 39 of them moved Tuesday. The 330-plus inmates still at the NOPJ in Bacolod may be transferred to Bago by July 15, he added.

The new jail to be managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology would be a more secure facility with areas for inmate-segregation, according to the gravity of the crimes they were detained for, Silva said earlier.