ILOILO City – Police authorities are tightening detainee security across Western Visayas after two rape suspects managed to escape police custody in separate incidents in Iloilo Province, exposing vulnerabilities in the handling and transport of persons under police custody (PUPCs).
Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director Police Brigadier General Randulf Tuaño ordered a region-wide audit of detainees, mandatory reorientation and proficiency checks for custodial personnel, and stricter procedures governing the movement and monitoring of PUPCs.
The measures go beyond merely relieving police personnel following an escape, with Tuaño stressing the need to address weaknesses in custodial practices before another detainee gets an opportunity to flee.
“It is not enough that whenever an incident happens, we immediately place personnel under administrative relief. There are five things that we will do,” Tuaño said.
He directed the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division (RIDMD) to reinforce guidelines on what custodial personnel should and should not do while guarding detainees inside police stations and during transport.
Aside from auditing the total number of PUPCs throughout Western Visayas, PRO-6 will conduct mandatory reorientation and proficiency checks for custodial personnel, standardize procedures for detainee movement and monitoring, and reinforce the command responsibilities of police station directors and chiefs of police.
Tuaño said custodial officers must constantly anticipate attempts by detainees to escape rather than assume that those under their watch will simply comply with police instructions.
“There are only two things that a detainee thinks about: eating and escaping. If he is not eating, what is his mindset? Of course, he is thinking of escaping. That is the mindset that we want to instill in custodial personnel — that when a detainee is not eating, they should think that the detainee has nothing else on his mind but to escape, whether inside the station or while being transported. That will be part of the training,” Tuaño said.
The tougher measures were triggered by two escape incidents in Iloilo this year, both involving rape suspects who took advantage of situations while outside their detention facilities.
On July 15, a 26-year-old rape suspect from Barangay Balod, Guimbal escaped while undergoing a medical examination at the Rural Health Unit in Barangay Poblacion West, Oton.
The suspect asked permission to urinate before climbing out through a window. Police launched a hot-pursuit operation and later recaptured him in Barangay Poblacion East, Oton.
Less than two months later, on Sept. 9, a 20-year-old rape suspect escaped in Barangay Aripdip, San Rafael while being transported back from the Hall of Justice.
The detainee reportedly asked his two police escorts for permission to urinate before jumping into a ravine and disappearing from their sight, triggering another hot-pursuit operation./PN