URDANETA CITY—A tracker team has been formed to recapture and bring back behind bars the number one personality in the list of illegal drug personalities in Rosales town who was earlier arrested but escaped last Tuesday from his detention cell here.

P/Supt. Jeff Fanged, police chief here, said Thursday it is unfortunate that their successful efforts to capture Cornelio Obedosa Monday in a buy bust operation was overshadowed by his escape from his detention cell at the city police station.

Obedosa escaped with another suspect, Roger Oliveros, who is also in the city’s drug target list.

The two were detained in a temporary lock up cell since the old detention cell is undergoing renovation. They were scheduled to be transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology but their transfer was postponed because the judge was not around to issue their commitment order.

The escape happened Tuesday morning after the two had their breakfast and their handcuffs were removed by the guard on duty, a certain P03 Samio, reportedly for humanitarian reasons.

Within a 10-minute time period, while the guard was busy recording an incident in the blotter, Oliveros and Obedosa took the chance to escape by destroying the ceiling of their cell.

Oliveros was recaptured after a chase with responding police along the Macalong River but Obedosa slipped from his pursuers.

“This is an isolated case. I was not remiss in constantly reminding our police personnel in handling such cases especially those that involve hardened criminals. Nobody wanted this (escape) to happen. Our aim now is to recover the escapee,” Fanged said.

P/Sr. Supt. Sterling Raymund Blanco, officer-in-charge police director, has instructed both Fanged and the chief of the provincial intelligence section to conduct a thorough probe on the incident.

Blanco said he wants to determine the lapses in established procedures committed by the police guard on duty and to impose necessary administrative sanctions against him.

He added that the culpability of the police chief will also be determined under the principle of command responsibility.

Fanged said when he became police chief here last September, he requested the city government to provide for the renovation of the station’s detention cell which was no longer used because of its dilapidated state since 2007.

Funds were made available in January this year but renovation work was suspended due to problems involving the location of septic tank. The women’s desk area was used instead as the temporary lock up cell.—Tita Roces

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