BJMP-Laoag: No special treatment for inmates

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff reporter

LAOag City—J/Insp. Herminigildo Rivera clarified that they have not given special treatment to any inmate detained at the Laoag City jail.

Mr. Rivera, the Laoag City jail warden, made the clarification following the aborted transfer of two detainees to the New Bilibid Prison in Metro Manila.

One of the detainees, Atty. Jaime Agtang, was supposed to be transferred to the national jail but due to health reasons, this was aborted.

Mr. Agtang, former legal officer of the Ilocos Norte provincial government, was diagnosed with benign prostatic hypertrophy. Aside from this, he is also suffering from upper gastrointestinal bleeding and colon problems.

Benign prostatic hypertrophy is an enlarged prostate gland. The prostate gland surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body. As the prostate gets bigger, it may squeeze or partly block the urethra. This often causes problems with urinating.

With his health condition, he needs gastro and urology clearance to travel. Mr. Agtang’s attending physician, Dr. Sinamar Ann Abando said he was unfit to travel due to these conditions.

Mr. Agtang was earlier sentenced to 4-17 years of imprisonment for two counts of estafa.

Another detainee who was not transferred was Melody Felipe. Ms. Felipe was diagnosed with nodular toxic goiter, thus was also unfit to travel.

Ms. Felipe was earlier sentenced for falsification of public documents.

The aborted transfer of the detainees was criticized by several people. A text message sent to Mr. Rivera alleged that he is playing favorites with the detainees. It also added that money changed hands so the transfer would not be implemented.

“Awan ti kinagpayso na dagita ta uray man pay centavo awan iti dawdawaten tayo kadagiti residente tayo ken iti 23 a tawen a naunday a panawen a pinagserbi tayo iti gobyerno ket awan pay ti anomalya a nakairamramanak aglalo iti kasta a paspasamak”, Mr. Rivera explained said.

He stressed that all detainees are treated fairly regardless of crimes they are accused of.

“Saan tayo ngata met a ma-recognize kadagiti naduma-duma nga organisasyon regional man wennu national kadagiti accomplishments tayo no kasanu iti pinangipatungpal tayo kadagiti rebbengen tayo a kas warden no adda dagitoy a klase nga alegasyon”, Mr. Rivera added.

He pointed out that the commitment orders of Mr. Agtang and Ms. Felipe are ready; however, without the required medical certificates, they are not allowed to travel.

Originally, 10 detainees were set to be transferred to the national penitentiary; but due to the medical conditions of the two, only eight were allowed to travel.

Mr. Rivera said though that Mr. Agtang and Ms. Felipe will be transferred to the national prison once they are cleared by medical authorities.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rivera related that the jail population currently is 223. He said this is more than what the jail can accommodate.

With the jail already very congested, he reiterated his request to the city government for additional rooms. He divulged that reelected Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas earlier promised to construct additional jail cells.

With the current number of jail cells, Mr. Rivera said it could only accommodate up to 100 detainees at the maximum. However, they cannot turn away people ordered detained by courts.

He also said that they are watching the health situation of detainees this summer season.