LIKE most other facilities of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, drug-related crimes top the offenses committed by detainees of Ormoc City Jail. As of Nov. 4 this year, 25.85% of jail occupants are charged with violation of RA 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act, three of them women.
They are followed by murderers, 16.95% which includes one female; other non-index crimes, 17.8%; rape, 13.98%; theft including two women, 13.68%; robbery, 10.59%; then homicide, 9.75% (see table above). But Jail Warden CInsp. Joseph Y. Nuñez said they have a transformation program that helps inmates change their ways.
One of the products of this program is 51-year-old Danny Du who was acquitted after four years of detention at city jail for drugs. He was nabbed with eight other suspects when the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) headed by Supt. Neil Montaño raided his house in 2008.
Du was charged for violation of RA 9165 sec. 6, 11 and 12 while his co-accused walked off with a lighter charge of violating section 7 which is just visiting his residence. Last Oct. 26, Judge Apolinario Buaya acquitted him after the DEA failed to establish that his house was a drug den.
But Du doesn’t blame anyone for what happened to him as he admitted being a drug user. Thanks to the jail’s transformation program though, he was able to see the light. Inside the jail, he formed a choir and spearheaded activities like religious appointments and sports, and did emceeing jobs. His health also improved.
If there is one regret he has, it is the foreclosure of their house in Mabini St., Dist. 23 which was raided. His brother, the sole heir of their parents, used their house as a loan collateral and he didn’t know it was foreclosed. He plans to continue serving God in a church in Capoocan town where he lives. Being gay, he doesn’t plan to get married.
(WLWE issue of Nov. 7-13, 2011)
(WLWE issue of Nov. 7-13, 2011)
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