Mayor assures safety of Bella in Naga jail

Kidnap-homicide suspect Bella Ruby Santos will be assured of protection once she turns herself in to the Naga City government, Mayor Valdemar Chiong said yesterday.

Though he has has no contact with Santos, the mayor said one of their three jail cells can accommodate female detainees.

Santos has been in hiding since the court issued an arrest warrant for her last July 12.

“We will make arrangements for her if she will surrender to me because she is a resident of Naga. We will process necessary commitment orders. Probably their lawyer will file a motion to keep her here,” Chiong told Cebu Daily News.

Santos and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths were charged with kidnap with homicide in relation to the death of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last Feb. 8.

“For her own protection and if she ask for our help, we will help her and arrange for her safety. But that is if she will voluntarily surrender. If not, it will be the judge who can decide (if she can stay in Naga),” he said.

In her neighborhood in barangay Inayagan, Naga City, Santos’ mother coped with anxiety by playing mahjong with her relatives.

She said she has not heard from her daughter since she left her home.

Santo’s cousin Concepcion Pardillo said the last thing she knew was that her cousin left to go out for a “gimmick” in the city or in Moalboal town, southern Cebu, on the night her arrest warrant was issued.

Last June 27, Santos went to Cagayan de Oro for a short trip with a cousin and returned to Cebu via Zamboanga port and stayed in Minglanilla town.

In yesterday’s press conference, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia urged Santos to surrender to the authorities and that she has nothing to be afraid of if she’s innocent.

Garcia said Santos won’t be harmed in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

“Who would believe that she would be harmed there? For all we know she may become the star dancer there,” the governor said.

CPDRC’s dancing inmates became an international YouTube hit. Santos’ family earlier said she will only surrender to Mayor Chiong or Vice President Jejomar Binay. With Correspondent Gabriel C. Bonjoc