‘Notorious criminal’ joins father in Makati City Jail

An 18-year-old with a string of alleged crimes to his name ended up at the Makati police station’s detention cell on Friday where he was greeted by a familiar face: His father who was arrested a week earlier for drug possession.

“The two had [a] reunion,” said Senior Supt. Rogelio Simon, Makati police chief, on Sunday.

Simon added that after Romuald Villarama’s face was shown on TV following his arrest for alleged possession of a knife and “shabu” (crystal meth), a steady stream of complainants had been trooping to the police station to accuse him of robbery.

Son outstrips father

Simon said that father and son were not gang members.

His characterization of Villarama, however, seemed to suggest that he had long eclipsed his father in terms of his criminal activities, particularly in their neighborhood of Barangay Rizal in Makati City.

Simon added that the 18-year-old had been involved in a string of robbery-holdups, victimizing both taxi drivers and Indian nationals; car theft; gun-toting; acts of lasciviousness; burglaries and drug pushing.

“Nefarious activities”

A report to the Southern Police District labelled him a “notorious criminal” and said he had been engaged in “nefarious activities” since he was just 16 years old.

Villarama was arrested after Friday midnight during the Makati police’s routine nighttime anticriminality operations.

Simon said that beat patrollers recognized him as the suspect in a recent theft case, and upon accosting him, found a fan knife and two sachets of shabu.

It was the second time he had been arrested in less than a month, the first for a case of car theft that was later dismissed by the prosecutor.

Simon said Villarama’s string of theft cases was likely done to support his illegal drug use. —With a report from Cedrix Perez