Dagupan warden, 8 cops probed for guard’s death

BY JENNELYN MONDEJAR

DAGUPAN CITY – The jail warden of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology of this city said he welcomes the probe being conducted against him and eight others for the gun slay of their jail guard by an inmate facing rape charges whom he escorted purportedly for a medical check up on Dec. 29.

Chief Insp. Florante Nisperos told newsmen he is he is ready to face result of investigations being conducted by their regional office which started Dec. 30 and another by their national office which he said started on Dec. 31.

Jail Officer 1 Bernabe de Leon escorted inmate Jose Pepito Salayog, 50, for a medical check-up after he allegedly threw up blood. But instead of going to a hospital, the two proceeded to the house of Salayog’s brother in Manaoag town. There, without handcuffs, De Leon was offered coffee but Salayog hit him in the forehead with a piece of wood and grabbed the guard’s service firearm and gunned him down.

“Haharapin ko at tatanggapin ko anuman yong desisyon nila (I will face and accept whatever their decision will be),” Nisperos said. He and another official, plus seven other non-officers who were on duty that day are now being probed. He said he expects the investigations will be done within two weeks.

Nisperos, however said he had no clearance when Salayog was escorted by De Leon for a check-up although he was at the time inside the jail compound supervising a construction job inside the kitchen.

When Salayog was imprisoned, he was already suffering from broken ribs that made him vomit blood and he was undergoing medical treatment, the warden said. “They decided on their own to allow Salayog to go out,” Nisperos said. He said he only learned about what happened when someone called him up.

He added, “Andiyan na yan. Kaya haharapin ko na lang ang resulta ng imbestigasyon. Kaso si De Leon, niligawan niya yong sariling kamatayan niya. Damay kaming lahat. (It’s already there. I will face the result of the investigation. But de Leon courted his own death and we are all held liable).” In Manaoag, Pangasinan, Supt. Mateo Casupang, Manaoag police chief, said inmate Salayog is now the object of a police manhunt. He said Salayog hit de Leon with a piece of wood on the forehead and shot him in the head with his service firearm.

“De Leon was to escort Salayog to the Trauma Hospital in Dagupan, but along the way, they dropped by the house of Salayog’s brother in Barangay Babasit in Manaoag town where the incident happened,” he said.

“Salayog then grabbed the jail guard’s Cal.38 revolver, shot him and then fled.”

Casupang said Salayog was not wearing handcuffs all along and that the supposed checkup had no court clearance.

Police recovered De Leon’s revolver and found an empty shell and five live bullets in the house of Salayog’s brother, who was the one who reported the incident to the police.