10 killed in Leyte prison inferno

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—Ten inmates were killed—including several undergoing psychiatric treatment in a ward—in a fierce fire that destroyed the maximum security building in the biggest prison in Eastern Visayas.

The fire, which raged for nearly three hours, occurred on Thursday in the prison colony in Abuyog town, 60 kilometers from Tacloban City.

It was the second fire to hit the facility in two years. The first blaze, caused by a faulty electrical wiring, occurred in 2013, killing one inmate.

In Thursday’s fire, wardens as well as inmates scrambled to save prisoners from their cells, according to the justice ministry.

Most of the dead were being held in a special section for inmates with psychological issues or physical infirmities, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told Agence France-Presse.

“Five inmates were patients at the psychiatric ward (and) two inmates were weak, old and (had) eye problems,” De Lima said, citing a Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) report.

“Two inmates were farm workers who initially were already safe but went back to help other inmates,” she added.

Fire fighters came from the towns of Abuyog, Mahaplag and Tanauan and Tacloban City and from the towns of Sogod and Hinunangan in Southern Leyte.

The facility sits on a 10-hectare land and was built during the rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Insp. Catalino Landia, Abuyog police chief, said the body of the inmates who were killed had been retrieved.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. An investigation is ongoing, according to Junrey Ong, Abuyog deputy fire chief.

The facility, known as the Leyte Regional Prison, is in Barangay Mahanga, 20 km from the town proper.

It has more than 3,000 inmates housed in three buildings. One is for maximum security prisoners, another for medium security detainees while a third houses minimum security detainees.

Investigation under way

It was the maximum security building, composed of nine cells, that was hit by the fire that started at 3:45 p.m. and was put out at 6 p.m.

At least 1,266 prisoners were detained inside the burned building.

Ong said jail authorities had not been able to determine the cause of the fire.

“But we are looking at the possibility that it could be due to faulty wiring,” said Ong. He said the presence of flammable materials, like pieces of wood, in the building could have helped spread the fire.

Pieces of wood are stored in the burned building as inmates use these as materials to build chairs and other items to earn a living while in jail.

Unable to escape

The fire was too big for the jail facility’s fire station to put out. Several fire stations in the town and volunteer fire fighters helped put out the blaze.

Msgr. Roberto Olaguer, BuCor spokesperson, said the bodies of the dead were “beyond recognition” in their cells.

“They may not have been able to escape. Unlike the other buildings where inmates can go farming for example, the inmates in the maximum (security compound) are padlocked,” the BuCor spokesperson said.

10 casualties

Olaguer said the 10 fatalities were among the 14 inmates who were initially missing.

He identified the 10 as Jerry B. Sorella, Ruel P. Oclarit, Tito L. Ejada, Salvador B. Erlandez, Randy F. Silvestre, Orlando S. Borlaza, Delfin A. Samaco, Eugenio R. Monforte, Rolando Agda and Susano Pateo.

Of the 14 initially missing, the remaining four were accounted for as of Friday morning.

“There are also a few inmates who were injured but we still don’t know how many they are,” Olaguer said. He said those injured suffered “only minor injuries.”

Second time

Olaguer said the affected inmates had been “temporarily transferred” to the minimum security compound.

“We don’t know what the next decision of the director will be. Maybe they will be transferred to other colonies,” Olaguer said.

According to the BuCor spokesperson, the maximum security compound was already hit by a fire in 2013. He said the International Committee of the Red Cross helped rebuild that building then.

Olaguer said the regional facility is where convicts from Regions VII and VIII, among others, are taken.

Overcrowded prisons

Insp. Constantino Pedrosa, deputy police chief of Abuyog, was built for 500 inmates, but held more than 1,000 men at the time of the blaze, a common occurrence in the country’s overcrowded prison system.

Philippine prisons also notoriously have poor facilities. On its website, the bureau said the prison’s facilities were “often below par” compared to other prisons.

The 42-year-old prison was damaged in November 2013 by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), one of the strongest storms on record to hit the Philippines.