SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna—San Pedro City police are on the manhunt for six inmates who escaped from the city lock-up jail at 3:30 a.m. on Monday.
San Pedro City Chief of Police Supt. Harold Depositar identified the escapees as Benjo Lopena, Mark Joseph Alviar, Jordan Ibanez, Ed Niño Hernandez, Rey Rodrigo and Arvin Basilan.
Depositar said the escapees sawed off the iron grill of their cell and escaped. Most of them are facing illegal drugs charges.
Depositar said their lock-up jail is overcrowded “by 800 percent”—holding 59 detainees at the time of the inmates’ escape—after the police’s relentless anti-illegal drug operations.
“If the international standard is 4.7 square meters per inmate, it should have just four male and two female suspects,” he explained.
Tracker teams were sent out to recapture the escapees, and an alarm was sent to all adjacent police stations, Depositar added.