Convicted killer who escaped from Bilibid prison recaptured

MANILA, Philippines — A joint police and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) team captured on Sunday a convicted killer who escaped the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City a day after high-profile inmate Rolito Go returned to the NBP following his abduction from the prison compound.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that Rommel Laciste, a convicted killer, was re-captured at about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, at a warehouse allegedly owned by a certain Jefrey Yap in barangay (village) Roxas, Naguiilan, Isabela.

De Lima said Laciste was arrested by joint elements of Philippine National Police-Isabela led by Superintendent Franklin Moises and the BuCor recovery team led by Prison Guard 1 Ruel Cardona.

“Documentation at the PNP-Naguiilan police station is ongoing,” De Lima said in a text message.

Laciste, who was detained at the maximum security compound of the NBP, disappeared on Aug.15 and was believed to have escaped through a rice hull truck that left the national penitentiary on that day. It was that day that Go and his nephew Clemence Yu surfaced, claiming they were kidnapped by four men from the NBP.

De Lima, who had taken over from BuCor chief Gaudencio Pangilinan who has gone on leave pending the investigation of Go’s disappearance, had said video footage showed that the truck was “haphazardly inspected” upon its exit by prison guards.

The justice secretary has issued show cause memos to 10 NBP custodial officers and personnel, asking them to explain why administrative sanctions should not be imposed on them.