Ex-guard linked to prison break pleads not guilty

A former guard of the Parañaque City Jail who reportedly fed his fellow jail guards with emetic-laced soup to allow three Chinese drug suspects to escape pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him Monday.

Former Jail Officer 1 Richard Sillatoc entered the plea during his arraignment on charges of violating Article 223 of the Revised Penal Code at the Parañaque Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 77.

Sillatoc was among dozens of accused who were arraigned before Assisting Judge Bibiano Colasito. The proceedings lasted less than five minutes and he hastily left after signing some papers in court.

Article 223 refers to “conniving with or consenting to evasion” under the “infidelity in the custody of prisoners” section of the Revised Penal Code.

It states that “any public officer who shall consent to the escape of a prisoner in his custody or charge shall be punished” and face from six months to six years imprisonment if found guilty.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and Parañaque police filed the charges against Sillatoc in December after he was accused of conniving with three Chinese men to pave the way for their escape from the city jail.

Chan Tong Lou, Cheung Wai Leung and Long Zong were charged with selling drugs under Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

They had been arrested in a buy-bust operation on Doña Juana Soledad Avenue in Parañaque, with the police claiming they were big-time drug traffickers with the capacity to offer big bribes.

The police earlier suggested that Sillatoc, who was reportedly fond of gambling in casinos and involved in relationships with several women, could have taken a huge bribe from the three drug suspects to finance his vices.

Police investigation showed that in the early hours of

Dec. 10, Sillatoc, who was assigned to buy food for the other jail guards, fed them with bulalo (beef bone marrow soup).

Sillatoc had apparently laced the soup with an emetic—a substance for inducing vomiting—and the two guards complained of stomach ache and threw up afterwards.

Security cameras caught

Sillatoc turning off the lights as he prepared to serve the soup to the two guards and it also caught him staring at the two as they were eating.

Later on, footage from the security cameras showed Sillatoc helping three men leave the main gate of the detention facility around 3:17 a.m.