Leyte Detainee Caught in Cebu

A female detainee who was recaptured in Cebu City on Monday after she and other fellow prisoners escaped from the Leyte Provincial Jail in Palo, Leyte during the height of typhoon Yolanda will be brought back to Leyte soon.

Miriam Desacada Garcia was arrested by the elements of Carbon Police Station after she stepped out from a department store in Cebu City.

While inside the department store, Garcia was spotted by jail guard Jeizen Rey Udtojan of the Leyte Provincial Jail who was also inside the establishment with his wife.

According to Udtojan it was his wife who first recognized Garcia and alerted him because the woman beside them has a similarity to the female detainee in Leyte.

“We were inside the store when my wife told me that the woman near us is familiar to her,” the jail guard recalled.

Udtojan said he confirmed that said woman is Garcia who is facing a human trafficking charge before the court in Leyte.

It was accidental that Udtojan chanced upon Garcia in Cebu because the jail guard, who himself is a victim of typhoon Yolanda, evacuated to Cebu with his family and are staying with a relative in Talisay City.

Garcia was among the prisoners in the Leyte Provincial Jail who were allowed to leave their cells when the storm struck last November 8 so they would not drown in the storm surge.