REGION | More than half of North Cotabato jail escapees face drug charges

A Bureau of Jail Management and Penology guard keeping an

eye on detainees. File | By John Unson/Philstar

           

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — At least 94 of 158 inmates who escaped from the North Cotabato District jail in Kidapawan City last week face drug trafficking cases in local courts.

 

Provincial officials also found out that warden Superintendent Peter Bongat was not at the jail when gunmen attacked on midnight of January 3 to rescue a moneyed drug lord, Melvin Casangyao, contrary to his assertion that he and his guards were outnumbered and overwhelmed, causing the escape of 158 detainees. 

 

Chief Inspector Jesus Singson assumed on Tuesday the post of warden of the controversial jail, replacing Bongat who was relieved from his post the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology pending the results of an administrative inquiry into the escape.

 

Among those who bolted from the facility when gunmen led by Ismael Nasser attacked were more than a dozen followers of fugitives Renz Tukuran and Moks Masgal, whose drug rings in North Cotabato were neutralized in a series of operations in late 2015.

 

Provincial board members Rolly Sacdalan and Kelly Antao, who helped investigate the incident, separately told The STAR Wednesday there is credence in findings indicating that Casangyao and Ismael Nasser, a guerrilla commander who escaped from the same facility last year, are behind the jail raid.

 

“We also found out that 94 of the 158 inmates who escaped from the jail were facing drug cases in different courts,” Sacdalan said.

 

Sacdalan and Antao both belong to an interim special action committee the provincial peace and order council tasked to investigate the jailbreak.

 

Gov't to put up bounties

 

The acting governor of North Cotabato, Shirlyn Macasarte-Villanueva, said Tuesday that the committee has recommended the allocation of a P1-million bounty each for Nasser and Casangyao and P10,000 each for the more than 90 escapees who are still at large.

 

The money for the rewards shall be drawn from the province's peace and security budget.

 

Macasarte-Villanueva said the Department of the Interior and Local Government committed to tack on an additional reward of P1 million each for information leading to the arrests of Nasser and Casangyao.

 

She said DILG will also match the P10,000 reward for each of the 99 detainees authorities are still trying to locate.

 

Macasarte-Villanueva said they have confirmed the connivance between Nasser and Casangyao, also known as “Hapon,” from escapees captured by pursuing police and Army teams.

 

“He (Nasser) was heard asking his men if they already have 'Hapon' in tow. When they answered affirmatively, he ordered them to leave ahead immediately,” Macasarte-Villanueva told The STAR on Tuesday.

 

Nasser, whose alias is “Commander Derby,” was also detained in the same facility in 2015 for various criminal offenses, including drug trafficking, bombings, armed robberies and multiple murders, but escaped in 2016 and has since remained at large.

 

“They met each other at the jail and became friends. This 'Derby' escaped earlier from the same facility,” the acting provincial governor said.

 

'Warden not at jail during attack'

 

Inmates and guards who cooperated in the investigation of the special action committee also confirmed that Bongat was nowhere in the jail when Nasser and his men attacked.

 

“Most of those who escaped only took advantage of the commotion and scaled the fence of the jail using blankets and traditional Moro malongs as contraptions while gunshots reverberated through the compound,” one of them told The STAR.

 

Senior officials of police and Army intelligence units in North Cotabato said Wednesday they promptly relayed to Bongat the tips from confidential informants warning that a group is out to assault the jail to set free certain detainees.

 

"He was warned the attack might happen anytime between midnight of December 24, 2016 to January 5, 2017," said an Army officer who asked not to be identified because of the delicate nature of undercover security missions.

 

More than 50 of the 158 escapees have been captured and returned to the facility while 10 others were killed by pursuing police and military teams for resisting arrest.