“Bogus probe” at district jail?

 

• ·         Calls mount for drug tests on jailguards

Fearing a whitewash in the investigation of jailguards at the Bohol District Jail (BDJ) who are faced with controversies on the discovery of illegal drugs and the escape of three inmates, well meaning citizens are calling on provincial officials to take a personal interest into the matter.

This developed as a team of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) sent a team from its regional office in Cebu City to conduct its own investigation on the entry of illegal drugs, specifically shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride) inside the detention facility and the caper of three detainees last month.

Comments sent to dyRD/Chronicle urged provincial lawmakers to conduct its own investigation, instead of just allowing the BJMP to look into the irregularities at the BDJ.

Well-meaning citizens were likewise surprised that no mandatory drug testing was ordered by the BJMP regional directorate, even after the team which they sent here initially found six personnel, 5 of whom are BJMP officers, liable for the recent discovery of shabu in one of the detention cells and at the prison’s canteen.

Two inmates and two other former inmates of the BDJ disclosed to dyRD/Chronicle of a “drug ring” run by a group of inmates, all of whom detained for drug-related charges, is operating within the prison compound like a syndicate.

Their drug dealing activities, apparently with the knowledge of jailguards, even reach out to drug peddlers in Tagbilaran City and even in the towns, according to the dyRD/Chronicle sources who spoke on condition that their identities be protected.

According to said inmates, it is unlikely that jailguards are not aware of the illegal drug activity within the prison compound.

On Tuesday, Jail Senior Inspector Richard Laure ordered a “greyhound” inspection in all cells and facilities of the BDJ following an intelligence report that the supposed “drug ring” has just received a new delivery of shabu from their supplier.

The thorough check revealed several stashes of shabu, with an estimated street value of P300,000, were being held by inmates at Cell No. 4, the same cell block were a previous inspection last month netted a similar quantity of the illegal substance. Inmate Enrico Peticio was also found in possession of 22 sachets of shabu during the inspection.

Since the BJMP is directly under the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and Local Government, there is already a mounting call for the agency to order a mandatory drug test to all prison guards of the BDJ.

Moreover, the provincial government, must also recommend a further investigation on the caper of three inmates last month, two of whom were killed in a shootout after resisting arrest in Ubay, while the third, Exequil Aniscal, is still at large.

2 dead, 2 hospitalized poisoned by “butete”

MABINI, Bohol – Two have died while two others remain in critical condition at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Regional Hospital after eating the lethal puffer fish, popularly known here as “butete”, in Barangay Marcelo, Mabini.

The fatalities are identified as Helen Hamin, 40, of Barangay Marcelo; and Marvin Isarsa, of barangay San Roque, of the same town.

According to the Mabini Municipal DSWD office, that fisherman Gomer Hamin, husband of Helen, brought home the puffer fish cooked with coconut milk, which they had as viand for lunch together with a relative Raul Hamin and Isarsa on Tuesday.

Two hours after having lunch, the victims felt dizzy and stiffness of their extremities and other parts of their body and were rushed to the Candijay District Hospital but two of them were already dead on arrival.

The two other victims were brought to the GCGRH for intensive treatment and are still in critical condition.

Puffer fish or “butete”, are carriers of tetrodotoxin, one of nature’s deadliest toxins.

‘Drug ring’ inside Bohol jail uncovered

Drug dealing, even from behind prison bars, unravels at the Bohol District Jail (BDJ) as authorities crackdown on inmates operating like a syndicate that has turned the detention facility into a virtual trading hub of illegal drugs.

Jail guards seized approximately 20-grams of shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride) during another surprise “greyhound” inspection on Tuesday, the second within a month’s span at the district jail, which yielded sachets of the illegal substance, various paraphernalia for its use, improvised weapons and cellphones.

The street value of the confiscated shabu is estimated at P300,000, according to jail warden S/Insp. Richard Laure, who ordered the thorough inspection of all detention cells and prisoners’ facilities.

Intelligence reports alerted the jail warden which cited that a group of inmates, running a drug syndicate within the BDJ, have just received a “new delivery” of the illegal substance shabu.

The intelligence information may have been proven correct but the jail warden is unsuspecting of a so-called “drug ring” inside the detention facility, whose drug pushing operation reaches beyond the prison walls.

Two inmates disclosed to the Chronicle, on condition of anonymity, that a group of inmates, mostly detained for charges of illegal drug activities, are running their drug trade inside and outside the prison through a network of couriers and pushers.

The couriers are the ones going in and out of the prison compound sneaking in the illegal drug shabu and sometimes amounts of cash, either as payments from drug pushers who sell their stash on consignment-basis out in the streets, or for the purchase of new stock from suppliers in Cebu or northern Mindanao.

To break their routine, at times drugs are smuggled in and consigned out, using tennis balls with a small incision, which also serves the purpose of passing on money, that are thrown from outside the jail premises, or vice versa.

“It may sound ingenious but the method is made a lot easier with cellphones that coordinate the transfer of drugs and money,” said the Chronicle sources.

Although cellphones are disallowed inside the detention facility, somehow, the mobile devices are smuggled in during scheduled visitations.

On Wednesday, Gov. Edgar Chatto issued a 24-hour ultimatum to S/Insp. Laure to explain how illegal drugs get smuggled into the facility despite the improved security checks and measures.

Chatto said jailers who might be involved in the modus operandi should be identified and investigated by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

During the “greyhound” inspection at the BDJ on Tuesday, two packs of shabu (referred to as “bulto” packed in 5-grams) and a total of 43 medium and small-sized sachets were discovered by jailers in Cell No. 4, the same cell where a 5-gram “bulto” stash and 4 smaller sachets were seized in a previous “greyhound” search last month.

Inmate Enrico Peticio, 39, was also found in possession of another 22 sachets containing the illegal substance at the jail’s canteen during the inspection.

‘Swertres’ protection money, unheard of – Barot

With the police again placed in the spotlight for allegedly receiving “protection money” from underground financiers of the illegal numbers game “swertres”, Bohol Police Provincial Director SSupt. Constantino Barot Jr. said he finds the accusations levelled against policemen “puzzling and inexplicable”.

“Ever since we have been making arrests of ‘swertres’ ushers, runners and operators, nobody from the police rank-and-file has called me up or asked me personally to spare someone who is apprehended because we are receiving money from them,” Barot bared in an interview over dyRD’s “Inyong Alagad” on Monday.

During the interview, Barot laughed off reports of alleged “sharing schemes” which affected bet values against winnings, as a result of a higher payola given to members of the police force, acting as protectors of local financiers.

“I don’t know why the police is always blamed when in fact I received last week accomplishment reports from chiefs of police which included several arrests we have made against the swertres network,” the provincial police commander added.

He said people have abused the phrase “police protection” making them the likely suspects when the success of the anti-illegal gambling drive relies heavily on the local chief executives.

“By law, it is the local executives (mayors) who are tasked in spearheading the campaign against swertres. The public knows that if mayors do not allow the illegal numbers game in their area, swertres would not thrive,” Barot said.

Barot admitted however that the Bohol police, since the start of his tenure as provincial director, have yet to capture the virtual “big fish” among swertres operators here in the province.

“It is hard to link financiers to the day-to-day operations since most of them are not directly involved in the illegal activity and are just providing the financial capital for operators and coordinators.

Even if we raid homes of suspected financiers, there is probably nothing that could directly tie them up to illegal swertres,” Barot explained.

The provincial director urged the public to provide specific information against policemen who are involved in protecting illegal gambling since these are serious allegations that needs to be verified and save those who are honestly doing their job as law enforcers.

Police chiefs told: “One strike, you’re out”

The “one strike policy” of the Philippine National Police (PNP) against police personnel involved in illegal activities, such as the illegal numbers game “swertres” and illegal drugs, will be strictly implemented here in the province of Bohol.

Police Senior Superintendent Louie Tiroy Oppus, Deputy Regional Director for Operations of the Police Regional Office – 7, declared over “Inyong Alagad” of Station dyRD on Wednesday that a chief of police who cannot stop “swertres” or any form of illegal gambling and illegal drug trade in his area of responsibility will be automatically relieved if they will be raided of these illegal activities.

Oppus bared that Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo Jr., PRO-7 director, is firm and serious on their campaign against these illegal activities. Recently, four chiefs of police in Negros Oriental were relieved by provincial director SSupt. Edward Carranza, for failing to stop the illegal numbers game “swertres” in their areas.

According to Oppus, the public should cooperate with them and report the presence of “swertres” and illegal drugs so that he can order the verification of such information and conduct raids through the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) or the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

“We really need information where illegal gambling and drugs are prevalent. If the chief of police in these areas are raided by our regional operatives, there is no need for further investigation, they will be automatically relieved,” Oppus said.

Oppus likewise urged local chief executives to “do their part” and should “take the lead” in the campaign against illegal activities.

Man face murder charge for beheading sister-in-law

• 8-year old daughter witnesses crime

CARMEN – A 37-year old man who beheaded his sister-in-law on Saturday in Carmen town is being charged with murder at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor (OPP).

Raymundo Cario, 37, of barangay La Salvacion in Carmen, was formally charged for the murder of one Criselda Cario, 31, also a resident of said barangay and wife of his elder brother.

Carmen PNP criminal investigator PO3 Reynaldo Aradaza told dyRD Balita that the suspect was positively identified by the 8-year old daughter of the victim who saw his uncle decapitating her mother’s head with a farming scythe around 4 p.m. last Saturday just a few meters away from their house.

Police investigation bared that the relatives had a long-standing dispute on inherited land from the parents of the suspect. According to PO3 Aradaza, the victim tried to kill the suspect sometime last year by shooting him using a handgun. The victim and suspect were neighbors.

According to the daughter’s testimony, her mother was herding a goat when her uncle (suspect) accosted the former and cut-off the victim’s head using his farming scythe.

Police who responded to the incident recovered the said bladed weapon at the house of the suspect which still bore bloodstains.

The suspect’s slippers were also found by investigators at the scene of the crime. Based on the daughter’s account , the suspect apparently planned the killing which could aggravate the crime.

RESIDENCY ISSUE: Group puzzled by Comelec inaction on case against Yap

By Kit Bagaipo
Philippine Daily Inquirer


TAGBILARAN CITY—AN ALLIANCE OF fishermen expressed bewilderment over the delay in the Commission on Elections’ action on the disqualification case it filed against former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who is running unopposed for congressman in Bohol’s third district.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), in the case it filed at the Comelec, said Yap was not qualified to represent Bohol’s third district because he does not reside there.

Pamalakaya said Yap continues to reside in Ortigas, Pasig City, and has never abandoned it as his domicile.

Election requirement

Election laws require candidates for congressmen to be residents of the district they want to represent for at least a year before the elections.

The group said Yap’s case was similar to that of actor Richard Gomez, who was declared by the Comelec’s Second Division not qualified to run for representative in Leyte for not being a resident there.

Pamalakaya said the Comelec has yet to tackle the case against Yap.

“We are puzzled by this development. The disqualification case we filed last March 9 should have been resolved in the soonest possible time or at least one week after we filed the disqualification case against Secretary Yap,” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

Untouchable?

“Is Mr. Yap really untouchable according to political circles in and out of Comelec?” Hicap said.

At least 40 members of Pamalakaya and party-list group Anakpawis trooped to the Comelec national office on Thursday to ask Melo and the Comelec commissioners to tackle immediately the disqualification case against Yap.

The group filed a manifestation and motion urging the poll body to set the formal hearing for the disqualification case.

On March 9, the group also filed additional pieces of information before the Comelec to strengthen the disqualification case that the farmers filed against Yap.

The additional pieces of evidence include sworn statements signed by three officials of Barangay Buenavista in Loboc town disputing Yap’s claim that he was a resident of the far-flung barangay as he declared in his certificate of candidacy.

House on rough road

The supplemental information, which carried the signatures of former Barangay Buenavista secretary Corbino Cuhit, incumbent barangay councilor Basilio Balog and resident Mateo Ratonel, brother of incumbent barangay councilor Boy Ratonel, maintained that Yap has never been a resident of the barangay and that he just arrived in Buenavista at the start of the election season.

The three said the house and the address referred to by Yap as his official domicile in Buenavista, Loboc, was located in an area that was not passable by any motorized vehicle, except motorcycles, due to its rough roads and mountainous curves.

Pamalakaya maintained that Yap could not even speak the language of Boholanos. The group also said the former agriculture secretary and his family continue to stay in Metro Manila and that, in the concept of domicile under election laws, is at Alexandra Residence in Pasig City.

“His visits in Bohol are infrequent, short and transient,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya also cited the cases they filed against Yap in connection with the P455 million overpriced ice-making machines and the P7.14 billion in agriculture funds cited by the Commission on Audit in its 2008 report as missing, diverted or misspent.

“We filed this case not to spoil the political ambition of Secretary Yap. We filed this case because we want truth and justice to prevail over the narrow interest of the new breed of traditional and corrupt politicians,” the fisherman’s group added.