It was supposed to be a mere exchange of text jokes between two bored jail guards.

But when you have the Ampatuans as the subject matter, police said it is certainly not a laughing matter.

On Saturday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) revealed that the supposed plot to spring the six key Ampatuan clan members from their detention facility in Camp Bagong, Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig in exchange for a huge sum of money was just a text joke.

Director Eugene Martin, chief of the PNP Directorate for Intelligence, said the alleged plot emanated from an SMS exchange between Senior Jail Officer 3 Angeles Bio and Senior Jail Officer 4 Kenneth Quilona.

What made the incident a big deal is Bio and Quilona are assigned to the Metro Manila District Jail (MMDJ) where the Ampatuans are currently detained. And no less than their warden played the role of “whistleblower.”

“The reported escape plot was initially determined to be part of a harmless yet unwise joke among the jail guards,” said Martin.

Martin said they have conducted an investigation on the incident and documented what really happened at the course of the probe.

The official said it all started when Quilona sent a text message to Bio, saying: “Patakasin natin Edoy 50M. sama ka Edoy... tg 25M tayo... tinanggap ko na downpayment 10M.” (Let's allow them [Ampatuans] to escape Edoy [apparently the nickname of Bio] [for] P50 million...we'll each have P25 million... I already got the P10-million down payment).

The Ampatuans detained at the MMDJ, are clan patriarch Andal Sr.; his sons – suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan; Sajid who was then acting Maguindanao governor; and Andal Jr. who was tagged as the massacre principal suspect; and relatives Anwar and Akmad.