AFP FILE PHOTO
PILI, Camarines Sur—Nine inmates bolted the Camarines provincial jail shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday, police and jail authorities said.
The inmates, who all belonged to one cell inside the jail facility in Barangay (village) Tinagis in Pili town, some 10 kilometers from Naga City, were able to escape by sawing the steel bars of their comfort room, according to Police Officer 1 Edgar Cerillo, an investigator from the Pili municipal police office.
Jail warden Jose Francisco Musa said they discovered the escape when jail supervisor Marlon Argarin was doing his rounds at around 12:45 a.m., during which time the police were also informed of the prison outbreak.
The jailbreak was likely to have happened sometime around 12:30 a.m. Musa said.
He said he immediately called Senior Superintendent Romero Bausa, the provincial police director, and Chief Inspector Benjamin Spaña, the town’s police chief, of the prison break.
Musa identified the escapees, as follows:
Muriel San Joaquin, who is facing carnapping charges; Richard Tell, statutory rape; Juan Polidario, illegal possession of firearm; Kalim Padillo, frustrated murder; Rolly Cabaltera, rape; Erwin Capus, illegal drugs; Eugene Porutas, illegal drug possession; Roland Negrido, murder; and Lloyd Gilford Embile, robbery.
The escapees were among 43 inmates incarcerated in the same cell, said Musa.
Emily Asor, who resides just outside the provincial jail compound, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer she was awaken by the loud barking of neighborhood dogs at around 1 a.m. and heard the stumping sound of persons running down a nearby riverbank.
She later learned they were jail escapees when prison guards came running out of the jail compound and police started arriving in the area.
Police and jail personnel have launched a massive manhunt in the town of Pili and neighboring areas in search of the escapees.