‘Boy Bayawak’ of MPD nabbed for Tondo heist

A member of the Manila Police District (MPD), who in 2011 earned the moniker “Boy Bayawak” after he allegedly sold the monitor lizards he had confiscated from an illegal wildlife trader, was arrested Tuesday afternoon for a robbery that victimized a businessman in Tondo.

PO3 Jessie Villanueva was arrested a day after he allegedly robbed Renan Reyes of Gagalangin Street. The officer was earlier the subject of several complaints for extortion, possession of illegal drugs and car theft.

Senior Insp. Alexander Rodrigo, theft and robbery section chief, said Villanueva was cornered in Barangay (village) 361 in Sta. Cruz.

Reyes, a seller of second-hand car parts, tagged Villanueva as the motorcycle-riding man who held him at gunpoint around 11 a.m. Monday in front of his store on Gagalangin and took his gold necklace worth P180,000, wristwatch worth P60,00 and mobile phone worth P30,000.

Senior Insp. Alexander Rodrigo, chief of the MPD theft and robbery section, said Reyes recognized Villanueva when shown photos of criminal suspects.

Villanueva, who used to be assigned to the MPD’s Raxabago-Tondo and Sta. Mesa stations, was earlier charged with robbery, extortion, drug possession and car theft, Rodrigo said.

It was not immediately known Tuesday what had become of the earlier cases.

But one case stood out in Rodrigo’s memory: Three years ago, Villanueva arrested a man for illegally keeping two bayawak. But instead of handing over the animals to wildlife officials, he tried to sell them himself.