Stiffer penalties on Cebu City jail visitors caught sneaking contraband pushed
THE Cebu City Jail warden is pushing for stiffer penalties against jail visitors caught trying to sneak in contraband inside the prison facility.
Supt. Renante Rubio, Cebu City Jail warden, said in a phone interview that he would ask the Cebu City Council to create an ordinance imposing stiffer penalties against these jail visitors.
Rubio said this after a jail visitor, Alex Ortega, was caught with 40 packs of cigarettes stuffed inside the belly of four pieces of triggerfish (Pakdol).
Ortega was visiting inmate Michael Abanes and brought with him the four pieces of triggerfish, when he was caught with the contraband inside the bellies of the fish.
Rubio said that cigarettes are among the banned items or things considered as contraband inside the jail.
The other items considered as contraband are illegal drugs, electronic gadgets like TV and cell phones, lighters and sharp objects like knives.
He said that despite this, visitors continue to try to sneak in cigarettes and this was the second attempt in a few days time.
Rubio said that a person with a disability, who also was visiting an inmate, was caught trying to sneak in cigarettes a few days ago.
He, however, did not elaborate on this incident.
Rubio said that since he took over as warden, he had strictly implemented the banning of cigarettes inside the jail.
Despite this, Rubio said that the inmates still secretly sell cigarettes and the ban on these items had also pushed the price of a stick of cigarette inside the jail at P70 a stick.
Although, he could impose sanctions on the inmate, Michael Abanes, inside the jail, Rubio said all they could do against the visitor caught with the contraband, in this case Ortega, was he would be banned from setting foot on the jail, and the contraband and the fish would be confiscated.
So Rubio said as a deterrent he was pushing for the stiffer penalties for those visitors caught sneaking in contraband specifically, cigarettes and cell phones.
He said it would be better to put these people behind bars as well.
Councilor David Tumulak, deputy mayor for police matters, said that he could only act or make proposals based on the formal recommendations from the Bureau of Jail Penology and Management’s office (BJMP) .
Tumulak said that he had already proposed to have an ordinance penalizing visitors who would slip contraband such as cigarettes, cellphones, and illegal drugs inside the jail.
But he said that this proposal was denied and killed when it was still under the scrutiny of the Committee of Laws.
He also said that he could re-introduce the proposed ordinance, but he would need the formal recommendation from the BJMP to do this.
Tumulak said he agreed with the Rubio on pushing for this ordinance because Ortega, the visitor, would only be banned from the jail facility as his punishment for trying to sneak in contraband.
“Ban lang si Ortega kay as of now ang iyang violation wala may penalty kay wala tay ordinance aside sa executive order of the President to ban cigarettes inside jail facilities (For now we can only ban Ortega in Cebu City Jail since his violation does not have any corresponding penalty because we do not have ordinance penalizing these violators aside from the executive order of the President banning cigarettes inside jail facilities),” Tumulak said.
“If they wanted to seek assistance to draft this ordinance, makabuhat man g’yud ta. Motabang ta nila basta maggikan nila ang initiative (If they want to seek assistance to draft this ordinance, we can make it. I will help them as long as they will make the initiative),” Tumulak said.
Meanwhile, Jail Warden Rubio said that Michael Abanes, the inmate who was to be visited by Ortega, would be investigated.
Rubio said that aside from that, Abanes and his cellmates would be sanctioned with no visitors for a week.
Rubio also said that Ortega, who is a street vendor plying his trade outside the jail, was paid P100 by Abanes’ relative to bring the fish inside the jail to Cabanes.
But Jail Officer 1 Crisanto Cadimas got suspicious when he looked at the fish, and Cadimas ordered the fish be cut in half.
It was then that the contraband was found stuffed inside the bellies of the four fish.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
