CPDRC Acting Jail Warden Relieved

Gov. Hilario P. Davide III has relieved from post acting jail warden Gil Macato effective Wednesday following the raid of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) yesterday dawn that yielded illegal drugs and other contraband.

Capitol’s Civil Security Unit (CSU) Chief Bobby Legaspi will temporarily oversee the security management of CPDRC, said Davide.

“The results of the greyhound operation, makita man nato, despite the measures that we have taken, naa gihapoy contraband nga milusot,” he said.

Davide explained that he understands that Macato might face difficulties in enforcing the policies but system change should be enforced in the provincial jail.

“Ato man gud nga patuo iya na nang nalimpyo. But I can understand, lisud pod siguro sa iyang part but I feel kinahanglan natong usbon ang sistema diha,” Davide said.

After the surprised inspection last Tuesday, 19 medium-sized packs of suspected shabu and cash amounting to P92,000 were seized by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 agents . They also found 76 mobile phones, laptops, drug paraphernalia and bladed weapons in the detention cells.

Earlier this year, Capitol installed two signal jammers to disable outside communication among inmates.

Last January, Davide requested PDEA 7 to conduct a greyhound operation inside the jail after receiving text messages from reliable sources that drugs and cell phones are still proliferating inside the facility. The governor, however, did not divulge his sources.

Through texts messages, Davide learned that some jail guards are involved in smuggling contraband inside the jail facility.

PPSC augmentation

For the moment, Legaspi plans to ask again the Cebu Provincial Police Office’s (CPPO) Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) to help them secure the CPDRC perimeter.

A 20-member team from PPSC assigned to augment security at the CPDRC was pulled out in December last year.

“Without the police inspecting the packages, the current ways have changed since the PNP personnel have pulled out. I think we are going to go back to the way we handled it when the PPSC is helping us,” Legaspi said.

Stricter policy in the inspection of visitors and personnel of CPDRC should also be implemented, he added.

Legaspi also added that he plans to revive the Task Force CPDRC to help coordinate policy changes in the jail’s security with the governor’s office. (Kelvin Cañizares)

SOURCE: www.cebu.gov.ph