News Briefs: Cops pursue inmate who bolted Tarlac jail
LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN—Police teams are tracking down an inmate, who shot and killed a jail officer as he escaped with two others on Sunday from a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility in Camiling town in Tarlac province. Drackilo Falcon, 29, who fled on foot, may still be in Camiling, said Chief Insp. Rustico Raposas, town police chief. Falcon, Marlo Altizo, 37, and Rolly Falcon, 36, stabbed the jail guards posted at the facility’s visitors area at 10 a.m. on Dec. 11, and seized the gun of SJO1 Marilou Rico, 43, who was shot dead. In the ensuing melee, SJO2 Rizalino Gatus, 50, SJO3 Jerry Bernardino, 48, and JO2 Joseph Parayaoan, 34, were stabbed. Raposas said Drackilo Falcon seized the service firearm of Rico and fired at her. “There was an exchange of gunfire when we arrived,” said Raposas, whose station is about 20 meters from the BJMP jail. When the smoke cleared, Rolly Falcon was dead from a bullet wound. Raposas said policemen chased the two inmates who had escaped. During the pursuit, Altizo entered a house in Barangay Poblacion, grabbed a knife and held hostage a 6-year-old girl. After a three-hour standoff, Altizo surrendered, releasing his hostage. —GABRIEL CARDINOZA
Solons raise funds for ‘megafacility’ for drug rehab
CABANATUAN CITY—All 87 female lawmakers at the House of Representatives have joined forces to raise contingency funds for the operation of the 10,000-bed Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC) inside Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City. Nueva Ecija Rep. Rosanna Vergara said the success of the government war on drugs would require rehabilitation as a major component. All incumbent representatives of Nueva Ecija’s four congressional districts are women: Vergara, Rep. Estrellita Suansing, Rep. Micaela Violago and Rep. Magnolia Antonino. Among the activities the lawmakers had undertaken was a garage sale initiated by Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto, who sold her old clothes. The DATRC building was financed by a Chinese businessman. The facility may accommodate poor patients, who would also be given technology and vocational skills training. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the DATRC would initially accommodate patients from the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Pampanga and Tarlac who are classified as moderately dependent, as well as those already recovering from their addictions at overcrowded treatment facilities. —ARMAND GALANG
Exec who led arrests of Alcala kin heads N. Ecija police
CABANATUAN CITY—The police officer credited for helping arrest relatives of former Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala who were linked to the illegal drug trade, is now the Nueva Ecija provincial police director. Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra on Saturday replaced Senior Supt. Manuel Cornel, who was assigned to the regional police office at Camp Olivas in Pampanga province. Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, Central Luzon police director, has not offered any explanation on Cornel’s relief. Yarra was Quezon provincial police director when undercover policemen and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agents, in separate occasions, arrested Secretary Alcala’s sister-in-law, niece and nephews. During a command conference on Tuesday, Yarra said he would “leave no stone unturned” in pursuing an antidrug campaign in Nueva Ecija. “Part of my priority is to validate if there was really no “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratory here,” he said. —ARMAND GALANG
