ILIGAN CITY—At least eight inmates bolted out of the Lanao del Norte provincial jail by sawing off the iron grills of their cell’s window early Thursday, the police said.
Senior Supt. Madid Paitao, Lanao del Norte police chief, said the inmates—Karis Balwa Lando, Ano Angni, Mamuran Dasimbor, Bukong Santos, Waled Mandagla, Bawi Mapapandi, Samsodin Mamao, and Musakira Tomanto—face either murder or drug charges.
“I suspect that the jail guards on duty have fallen asleep while the steel grills were being sawed off,” Paitao said of the 3:15 a.m. jailbreak.
He said based on initial investigation, the jail guards on duty only noticed the incident 30 minutes after the prisoners have gone.
Paitao said one problem that came out in the investigation was that there was no regular patrol conducted inside the jail.
“Had they conducted a regular patrol around the compound, the jailbreak could not have happened,” he told the Inquirer.
Paitao said authorities were continuing their investigation of the incident.
In the meantime, a manhunt was lunch and checkpoints had been set up in the province’s borders with neighboring areas, he said. Richel Umel/RAM