HE had wanted something else for dinner, preferably better food than the one given to ordinary prisoners. But this extraordinary prisoner wasn’t about to get any special treatment from his jailers.
Last Thursday, hours after he was committed to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), Cebu’s number one drug personality Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro refused to eat his dinner ration at CPDRC sending out a request instead if he could have food brought in by visitors or meals separately prepared for him.
The request was denied outright by Cebu Provincial Consultant on jail matters, Marco Toral, who told Barok that this cannot be done as he will have to learn to eat the same meals given to CPDRC’s more than 2,000 inmates.
“Agwanta gyud siya sa rasyon kay mao may supply sa atong kaon. Among gi likayan sad kay basin naay magpadala ug pagkaon unya wala ta kahibaw unsa. Amo lang gi-avoid, (He will have to bear the food ration because that is what we are supplying. We are trying to avoid a situation where food is sent from outside the jail, and we do not know what it is),” said Toral.
Jail authorities consider Barok as a “high risk inmate”, who among other threats to his life, may stand the risk of being poisoned if high-level security measures to protect him are not taken by jail officials.
“He requested ug kung pwede arang arang iyang kaon kanang dili sa rasyon. Parehas gabie gi gutom to nangayo ug kaon (He requested for better food. if possible not the ration. Last [Thursday] night he was hungry and asked for food),” said Toral.
Out of pity, Toral said, he gave Barok what remained of his dinner which consisted of beef steak and chorizo (pork sausage).
“Basin nabag-ohan lang sulod sa priso (Maybe he just needs to adjust to life in prison),” Toral told Cebu Daily News.
But that, Toral said, was going to be Barok’s last special meal while in solitary confinement at CPDRC for charges of illegal possession of drugs and illegal possession of firearms.