Ex-vice mayor wanted for fraud nabbed after 4 years

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—After four years in hiding, a former vice mayor of Asingan, Pangasinan, wanted for large-scale estafa, was arrested by police in Lucao District here last week.

Supt. Romeo Caramat, city police director, said Mila Antonio, 38, was buying a car in the city on April 30 when policemen, who have been tracking her, arrived to arrest her.

He said Antonio ran to her car and drove away but policemen gave chase and arrested her along De Venecia Highway here.

Antonio, former teacher, is considered the most wanted person in the Ilocos region.

Antonio won as vice mayor of Asingan in May 2007. But on June 5 that year, before she served office, a warrant for her arrest was issued by Judge Joven Costales of the Urdaneta City Regional Trial Court.

She allegedly defrauded a businesswoman, her sisters and son-in-law by P53.28 million. No bail was recommended for Antonio and her alleged associate, Lourdes Dioquino.

The complainant, Lota Elegado, said she met Antonio through a niece. Antonio was then purportedly looking for financiers for a land deal.

Elegado and her relatives invested more than P34 million in the fake deal.