Fifteen days after four prisoners bolted out of the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City last Jan. 17, two of them have not been recaptured.

Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said the requirement for everyone to wear mask makes it difficult to re-arrest two of the four prisoners who are still at-large.

Two of the prisoners were killed when they fought it out with pursuing law enforcers. Despite the P100,000 reward for each of the two remaining escapees, they have not been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 1.

“It is difficult to find them because everyone is wearing a mask. Each day that passes makes the task of recapturing these escapees more difficult,” Guevarra lamented.

“I am also calling on these escapees to voluntarily turn themselves in at the nearest police station, because the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them, wherever they hide,” he stressed.

“Our law enforcement agents, with the help of ordinary citizens, will find them,” he added.

Guevarra pointed out that “the BuCor (Bureau of Corrections) tracking team is relentlessly hunting them, and they have coordinated with some LGUs (local government units) and our Coast Guard.”

The two escapees who remain at-large are Drakilou Y. Falcon and Chris Candas Ablas, both had been convicted of robbery with homicide and each sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in jail.

Those who fought it out with law enforcers and killed in the shootout were Pacifico Adlawan and Arwin Bio.

Their escape and the Jan. 2 riot at the NBP where three prisoners died and 14 others injured are now under probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).