Palawan Jail Escapee Arrested After 23 Years

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY – A 46-year-old man who escaped from a prison facility in Palawan more than two decades ago was arrested Saturday in Sitio Bunga, Barangay Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental.

The suspect, identified only as Niño, was apprehended in a sugarcane field by local authorities, according to Police Maj. Romulo Gepilango, chief of the Moises Padilla Municipal Police Station.

Niño, a resident of the same village, had been on the run since September 9, 2002, when he escaped from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa.

He had been serving time for theft before fleeing custody, though Gepilango said the circumstances of the escape remain unknown.

The arrest was made through a joint operation between the Bureau of Corrections and the Provincial Intelligence Unit.

An arrest warrant was issued against Niño by the Regional Trial Court Branch 60 in Cadiz City on June 8, 2000.

Gepilango said the fugitive will be transferred back to Palawan to continue serving his sentence.