DRUGS, VIOLENCE HOUND PANGASINAN PROVINCIAL JAIL

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- Weeks after police seized shabu (methamphetamine
hydrochloride) from inmates at the Pangasinan provincial jail, trouble
continued to haunt the prison when an inmate stabbed another and the acting
provincial warden found sachets of shabu on the walls.

Chief Inspector Jerich Rosales, officer in charge of the provincial jail,
said two shabu sachets worth 4,000 pesos were wrapped in tissue paper and
electric tape and inserted inside cracks of the walls.

Rosales was appointed officer-in-charge after provincial legal officer
Geraldine Baniqued suspended provincial warden Felimon Doria when a
surprise inspection conducted by the provincial police's special operations
group and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group yielded more than
100 grams of shabu from five inmates.

Doria and the provincial jails are being investigated by the provincial
government's committee on administrative cases for gross misconduct,
neglect of duty, abuse of authority and violation of civil service regulations.

Rosales said the shabu could have been part of the illegal drugs brought to
the inmates during visiting hours.

"Maybe the team that conducted the surprise inspection did not notice the
sachets," Rosales said. He said none of the inmates admitted owning the drugs.

Superintedent Rolando Magno, group director of the SOG, said he has filed
cases for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs of 2002 against
inmates Abelardo Punzal, Peter Castillo, Jerry Lumna, Benjaim Lui and Susan
Manahan.

Rosales said because of the drug problem inside the jail, he has
implemented strict rules such as no movement among inmates from one cell to
another.

Because of this, when prisoner Melvin Licdao, 19, went to another cell,
another inmate, stabbed him. Yolanda S. Fuertes, Inquirer Northern Luzon Bureau