The jail escape in Kidapawan

Back in early February, as you may remember, 49 prisoners were assisted in breaking out from jail in Kidapawan.  Some of these guys were real terrorists that had been held for setting off bombs and other such activities.  Well, after some 3+ weeks, 46 of the escapees are still at large.  It would seem that not a lot is being done to capture these guys.

At the time of the escape, North Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol offered a reward of P20,000 for the capture (or killing) of each one of the escapees.  To date, only 3 of them have been stopped.  One was killed and two captured.  It’s a little sad that such a poor record of success has been achieved.  I mean, it would seem to me that if they were really serious about catching these guys, at least half would have been gotten by now.  On top of that, it’s not an issue that we even hear about in the news anymore!

Back on February 8, nearly a week after the escape, Governor Piñol issed an order that if the escapees were seen – Shoot to kill!  What happened when he said that?  The City Prosecutor in Kidapawan chastised the Governor, saying that the order was legally unwarrented!  Here you have dangerous terrorists on the loose, yet telling soldiers and police they should not shoot to kill the escapees?  That seems a little crazy to me.  Of course, we would not want to do anything illegal against the terrorists, right?

It has been suggested in many quarters that the MILF had a hand in assisting the prisoners of escaping.  The MILF has strongly denied that.  If the MILF is not involved, I would encourage them to help get these guys back behind bars where they belong!  Anything less would practically be helping the escapees, right?