Ex-cop wanted for homicide changes name, leads double life

AN EX-policeman wanted for a homicide case since 1991 used a different identity and lived a double life to mislead authorities until he was tracked down and arrested by agents of the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group in a manhunt operation in Cainta, Rizal last Tuesday, PNP chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. said.

Ex-Senior Police Officer 1 Joel Consuelo Villanueva, now already 69-years old was arrested inside the house of one of his children at Villa Cuana III Subdivision in Cainta around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

For over two decades, Consuelo used the name ‘Francisco Panganiban’ to evade arrest, the PNP said.

The arrest was made following an ‘intelligence packet’ provided by the PNP-IG headed by Colonel Romeo J. Macapaz, Gen. Acorda said.

The suspect has been ordered to serve his sentence for a homicide conviction and illegal possession of firearm issued respectively by Judge Salvador Villarosa Jr. of the Lucena City Regional Trial Court Branch 56 and Judge Guillermo Andaya of the Lucena City RTC Branch 33 on September 18, 2023 and August 13, 1993.

Dismissed from the service after being convicted by the court, Villanueva is also the subject of a P275,000 reward money offered by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

A record check showed that on November 16, 1991, the suspect along with one Alberto dela Cruz allegedly shot to death Air Force Captain Roger Nolasco and then ROTC Cadet Arnold Santos inside the Laser Beat Disco in Lucena City following their heated altercation.

Villanueva escaped from his detention cell on July 29, 1995 after he was convicted for double homicide but was recaptured on May 24, 1996 by members of the Lucena City Police Station.

During his 1996 arrest, he tried to shoot it out with the local police until he was captured and charged for illegal possession of firearm and ammunition and direct assault.

However, while under the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, he again escaped while undergoing treatment at the National Orthopedic Hospital in Quezon City.

On Tuesday, members of the PNP-IG, with help from the Regional Intelligence Divisions of the Police Regional Office 4-A and National Capital Region Police Office, Eastern Police District and the Cainta Municipal Police Station arrested the suspect.

Already sickly when arrested, the suspect was believed to have used his knowledge as a former policeman to elude capture by authorities and had even tried to change his identity to mislead the police. “Walang tumulong sa kanya. Magaling lang kasing magtago dahil dating pulis. He event attempted to change his name,” said the PNP-IG director.

Col. Macapaz said that since the case against the suspect was archived for at least 26 years, they applied for the issuance of a new warrant of arrest against him and eventually arrested the accused with the help of some informants.