Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm confirmed the reported brawl between a medical officer and a newly-installed jail officer at the facility.
The controversy involved Corrections Technical Senior Superintendent Dr. Amador Perez Jr., the medical chief, and Jail Officer 1 Jayferson Bon-as, an officer from Manila assigned to the facility by Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag as his “monitoring representative”.
In a report, Perez and Bon-as got into a heated argument last Friday, January 31, which resulted to a brawl.
Levi Evangelista, Information Officer and Corrections Technical Officer II, said in an interview that they cannot deny the issue since it circulated within the premises and even outside IPPF.
“I cannot give further details sa bagay na ‘yun but we confirm na may nangyaring ganun and we cannot deny. In fairness to both parties, they already submitted their statement with regards to that matter. On the part of IPPF, we hope that justice will be served to both of them,” Evangelista told Palawan Daily News in an interview.
He also clarified that the matter is only between the two and not what some reports say that the matter is between the guards from Manila versus the guards from the city.
“Sa loob ng room, so sila-sila rin lang ang nakaka alam sa bagay na ‘yun. Walang ibang involve dito, dalawa lang talaga sila,” he added.
As of now, IPPF is still waiting for the investigation to be conducted by their Central Office.
“After they have submitted their individual report, we already forwarded it sa Central Office and sila ang mag-iimbestiga. Awaiting kami dun sa magiging resulta. Sila ang mag-iimbestiga para maging fair,” Evangelista said.
He also confirmed the reassignment of Dr. Perez to Davao and Bon-as to Leyte as what PDN knew from a reliable source inside IPPF.
“Nagkaroon po s’ya (Perez) ng re-assignment order from Central Office para po siguro maiwasan din ang tension. Actually, both of them naman po to pacify the situation.
Meanwhile, despite of the controversy, IPPF will just focus on its mandate and responsibilities as Evangelista said, there’s no tension and it’s an isolated case.
“Wala naman with regards doon sa tension. Kami as far as IPPF is concern, business as usual, trabaho lang kami and everybody is professional. Isolated issue lang ‘yun and marami kami dapat i-perform. Andyan ang PDL, normal naman ang situation. Wala namang ibang problema na, trabaho lang kami,” he ended.