Cops nab prison escapee in hiding for 22 years

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Philippines—In hiding for more than two decades, an escaped prisoner from the Iwahig Penal Farm in Palawan finally came to the end of the road in his hometown where he failed to elude the police.

Superintendent Ferdinand de Castro, chief of police of San Pablo City in Laguna, said Edwin Policarpio, 48, was arrested there on Tuesday around 4 p.m.

De Castro said Policarpio had eluded capture for 22 years by moving from one place to another until police chanced upon him at a relative’s home in Barangay (village) II-E.

Policarpio was sentenced to at least six years of imprisonment at the facility in Puerto Princesa City for robbery.

Police said Policarpio originally lived in Barangay San Antonio in San Pablo City where the crime was committed back in the 1980s.

He was detained at the San Pablo City police station pending his turnover to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Laguna police could not say immediately when Policarpio was convicted or how much more time was left in his sentence when he escaped.

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