By MARTIN SADONGDONG
Fifteen of 23 detainees who bolted the police detention facility in Bacoor City Friday afternoon are being hunted down by policemen who have been getting help from social media feeds.
The Bacoor police have released the photos of the 15 fugitives who remain at large since overpowering the jail guards and fled on foot, some of them barefooted.
Eight of the inmates have been recaptured or surrendered, according to PO2 Walter Frisco, radio operator at the Bacoor police Tactical Operations Center.
“Tuluy-tuloy ang paghahanap sa mga pumuga. Mayroon na po kaming mga leads kung saan sila hahanapin sa tulong ng komunidad,” said Frisco.
The Bacoor Police Community Relations unit has released the photos of the 15 inmates whose offenses range from drug pushing to rape.
Hours after the daring jailbreak, the social media was filled with accounts of sightings and face-to-face meeting with some of the escaped inmates.
“Takot na takot ako dahil sa harap ng shop ko nangyari. Tumatakbo sila ng walang sapatos. Akala ko mga magnanakaw na hinahabol ng pulis, ‘yun pala mga pugante. Mabuti walang pumasok sa shop ko,” said Jonalyn Estrella.
Emerson Castro, another social media user, said two of the escapees boarded the same jeepney she was riding on with her mother-in-law and child from Zapote to Paliparan.
Castro said the escapees were hiding their faces and aloof to the other passengers.
A screen shot of a Facebook post went viral after the user said that one of the escaped inmates came knocking at their door in Barangay Talaba 4 and asked for help for his dead child.
The social media user, whose identity was not revealed, did not initially realize the person asking for help was an escaped inmate until a friend sent the photos released by police.
The social media user claimed the man was one of the escaped inmates. The post has since been deleted or made private.
Frisco advised the public to contact the Bacoor police’s TOC hotline at 0977-752-0819.
Supt. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesman of the Calabarzon police, said the jailbreak occurred around 4:23 p.m. while a newly-arrested suspect, Angel Eusebio, was being brought by jail guard Jeremiah Perez to cell No. 2 occupied by 400 male detainees.
As soon as Perez opened the gate, the inmates pushed it forward, causing the jail guard to lose his balance.
Twenty three detainees, 11 of them facing drug-related charges, stormed out of the cell, some of them hitting Perez.
Five on-duty personnel were relieved from their posts pending investigation.
