Worse, the escape came while the tower guard was said to be asleep or was somewhere else.

The inmates, who face drug charges, robbery and murder cases, simply drilled a hole on the concrete wall of their cell, got out of it, climbed the fence and cut the barbed wire on top before dashing to freedom.

Jail officials identified the escapees as: Randy Java; Carson Gabuya; Edgardo Batanes; Randy Rayala; Emeric Abadiano, and; Cesar Sabang.

In a pursuit operation, jail personnel recaptured Java a few meters away from the jail. The five remain free as birds even as jail personnel and police vowed to clap them in jail anew.

BBRC Jail Warden Supt. Efren Nemenio said the three guards who were on duty during the jailbreak are being investigated. Nemenio did not discount the possibility that the three guards were asleep or were not as their posts when the jailbreak occurred.

He said it was impossible for the guards not to hear the inmates drilling the concrete wall. Nemenio said it was also strange why the guards never saw the jailbirds scaling the fence.

Nemenio said it was Jail Officer 2 Leo Labata who noticed that the Tower 2 guard was no longer at his post. Further, he saw the hole on the fence, prompting him to alert all guards on duty. The jail warden said the drilling of the hole, using pipes, took only around 15 minutes as the fence was very old.

He said he would accept the consequences of the jailbreak, adding that he might just be relieved because of the escape.

Last January, two prisoners, including a controversial drug suspect, escaped from the BBRC also by making a small hole on the cement wall. However, drug suspect Roberto Hegremosa was recaptured barely 30 minutes later, while convicted robber Christian Revirra was forced to yield to police three hours later.

Hegremosa, 43, of barrio Luz, this city was the subject of the controversial operation of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that led to the shooting of a van carrying five employees of the Plantation Bay Resort in December 2002. The occupants were mistaken as members of a drug ring. Hegremosa was arrested and jailed on June 24, 2003.

Controversies at the BBRC, including illegal drug trade, extortion of inmates and special treatment to select inmates, have resulted in the relief of several jail wardens.