By CALVIN CORDOVA
CEBU CITY – Two jailguards and a male inmate were killed in an ambush in Barangay Kalunasan here yesterday.
The victims were identified as Prison Guards 1 Bernie Bayutas and 1 Joel Teves, and Jerryfer Perigrino, a high-profile inmate at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center detained for drug charges.
They were aboard a jail vehicle when they were attacked past 9 a.m. The vehicle was driven by Bayutas. Teves sat in front, while Perigrino, who was handcuffed, was seated at the back.
The vehicle was traversing a downhill portion of the road when two men who were wearing full-faced helmets emerged and opened fire. The gunmen escaped aboard separate motorcycles driven by their accomplices.
Empty shells for an M-16 rifle and a .45 caliber pistol were recovered in the crime scene.
The attack, the latest in a spate of killings here, happened a few kilometers from the CPDRC.
The two jail guards were supposed to bring Perigrino to the Cebu City Hall of Justice for the filing of charges against him.
CPDRC Jail Warden Reynaldo Valmoria said a case was supposed to be filed against Perigrino after packs of suspected shabu were seized from his cell in a greyhound operation last Aug. 4.
Perigrino was one of the suspected drug lords detained at CPDRC. He was a native of Bato, Leyte who was arrested in Argao, Cebu a few years ago, said Valmoria.
Valmoria said several greyhound operations yielded packs of suspected shabu found from Perigrino’s cell.
He also revealed that the two prison guards were being investigated by the provincial capitol’s Committee on Discipline and Investigation. “There is an investigation regarding reports that some jail guards are involved in the smuggling of illegal drugs into the facility,” said Valmoria.
Valmoria suspects that rivalry in the illegal drugs trade was the motive in the killing.
The jail warden said Perigrino had squealed the names of inmates whose illegal drug activities continued even if they are detained at the capitol-run facility.
Cebu Gov. Hilario G. Davide III rushed to the crime scene. “I was told that the two jail guards were under investigation. I don’t want to make conclusions but I don’t believe that there is no connivance among some jail guards and inmates in the illegal drug activities happening in the facility,” said Davide.
Barangay-owned security cameras were installed near the crime scene but were not switched on at the time of the attack.
