3 Chinese drug suspects escape from jail with help of guard

MANILA, Philippines—Authorities have launched a search for three Chinese nationals accused of drug trafficking and the jail guard who helped them escape from the Parañaque City Jail early Saturday.

Chief Inspector Enrique Sy, head of the Parañaque City Police investigation section, said that based on the information they gathered, Jail Officer 1 Richard Sillatoc was fond of gambling in casinos.

Sillatoc was also involved in relationships with several women, which could explain why he needed money, Sy added.

According to Sy, the escaped Chinese detainees—Chan Tong Lou, Cheung Wai Leung and Long Zong—are big-time drug traffickers with the capacity to offer big bribes.

They are accused of selling drugs punishable under Section 5 of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Sy was part of the team that arrested the drug suspects earlier this year in a buy-bust operation on Doña Soledad Avenue in Parañaque City.

The operation led to two more drug busts in Quezon City and San Juan, where an estimated P1 billion worth of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) was seized.

A source at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) described Saturday’s escape as a well thought-out plan.

Requesting anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak to media, the BJMP insider said that the week before the escape, Sillatoc had been on duty every day—something he did not do before in his eight years as a jail guard.

At around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Sillatoc fed two other jail guards on duty, Jail Officer 1 Jesus Baguinon and JO2 Jimmy Zapata, rice and “bulalo” (bone marrow soup).

Both men complained of stomach ache and threw up afterwards.

The source who was knowledgeable with the ongoing investigation said that the leftover food had been brought to the National Bureau of Investigation for analysis.

After the two jail guards fell sick, Sillatoc directed another jail guard to open the control gate at the fourth floor of the facility where the three Chinese were being held.

Sillatoc then took the inmates to the facility’s barracks where they took off their yellow detainee T-shirts and put on civilian clothes.

“The jail uniforms were still [in] Sillatoc’s cabinet when investigators went there,” the source said.

Initial investigation showed that at 3:17 a.m., as recorded in the city jail’s closed circuit television camera, the inmates made their way out of the main gate with the jail guard’s help.

The escape was discovered during the first head count at 6 a.m. when the inmates were declared unaccounted for and Sillatoc was found missing, the BJMP said.

BJMP director Rosando M. Dial immediately ordered a manhunt for the escapees and Sillatoc under the newly formed Task Force Quatro headed by Senior Superintendent Daniel Dequito.

Dial also ordered the filing of criminal and administrative charges and the preventive suspension of Sillatoc, who was declared “armed and dangerous.”