2 inmates create chaos in Antique prison, police ops still on

MANILA, Philippines—Authorities are currently negotiating with an inmate who shot dead a jail officer and another prisoner who held hostage roughly a hundred inmates at a detention facility in Antique Thursday, a police spokesman said.

Detainee Christopher Fernando shot Jail Officer 2 Romer Saquibal while the inmates were having dinner inside a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility along Marina Street in Barangay 4, San Jose, Antique at around 5:30 p.m., said Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr.

Fernando shot Saquibal using a .38-caliber revolver, said the police spokesman. The suspect then returned to the detention cells after taking Saquibal’s .45-caliber pistol.

Cruz explained that it was during negotiations with Fernando that Lloyd Francisco, another inmate, took hostage 171 other inmates. Francisco was armed with a hand grenade, police said.

The San Jose Crisis Management Committee and its Critical Incident Management Task Group had been activated, said Cruz. He added that the Antique police tactical team was on standby while those of Iloilo police were also prepared to augment the number of officers in the operations.