WANTED EX-COP CAPTURED IN RIZAL

BY LEX MANALO

A FORMER policeman wanted for killing a soldier and changed his name to evade arrest on Tuesday was captured in Cainta, Rizal.

Ex-SPO1 Joel Consuelo Villanueva, 69, was arrested after 27 years in hiding.

He was nabbed in the house of one of his children at Villa Cuana III Subdivision in Cainta town at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

For over two decades, Villanueva used the name “Francisco Panganiban” to evade arrest, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda said.

Villanueva, who was previously assigned in Candelaria, Quezon, was dismissed from the service in 1995 after he was convicted for homicide after killing a soldier in 1991.

He escaped from the Lucena City Jail on July 29, 1995.

The dismissed cop was recaptured the following year but once again escaped while undergoing medical examination at the Philippine Orthopedic Hospital in Quezon City.

 Acorda said Villanueva had been on the list of the most wanted persons in the country and has a 275,000 bounty for his capture.