AN INMATE facing drug charges in a Daanbantayan town jail died after he complained of severe stomach pains.
Police said Gavino Siangko appeared to have committed suicide by drinking muriatic acid around 4 p.m. last Thursday.
Siangko, a resident of barangay Maya, Daanbantayan town, northern Cebu, had theatened before to kill himself upon learning that he would be transferred to a jail facility in the town of Medellin.
He was one of nine inmates held in the police station of Poblacion, Daanbantayan.
PO3 Alfredo Mandal said Siangko was upset because moving away would make it difficult for his relatives to visit him.
Results of an autopsy are still being awaited to determine the cause of death.
No one said they saw the inmate take his life.
Mandal said the police station had a general cleaning of its detention cell last week. Cans of paint and a bottle of muriatic acid were placed outside the cell, about three meters from the metal grills.
The contents of the bottle were half empty when it was found.
Police said Siangko and two other inmates Argie Aligato, 22, and Geraldo Mariquit were scheduled to be transferred at 4 p.m. last Thursday to a Bureau of Jail Management Penology facility outside Daanbantayan.
As standard, the three inmates were brought to the rural health unit for a medical examination before their transfer.
Police said it was Siangko’s turn to be examined when he complained of stomach pain and turned pale.
On advice of the health personnel, police brought Siangko to the Daanbantayan Disctrict Hospital where he died around 6 p.m.
Police said Siangko had a history of high blood pressure although he was declared physically fit by the RHU before he was detained.
Mandal said that Siangko’s co-inmates noticed the inmate staring blankly in the past few days and would joke that he planned to commit suicide./REPORTER RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL