Bilibid escapee now US citizen, caught after 30 yrs

IT WASN’T the kind of homecoming this “balikbayan” had in mind when he returned to the country after eluding local authorities for more than 30 years.

Rommel Ventura Lachica, who was convicted in 1979, was rearrested in Cainta, Rizal province, on Wednesday and brought back to the national penitentiary, not only to serve the rest of his sentence but also face new charges stemming from his escape in 1986, the Philippine National Police said.

In a report released on Friday, the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Lachica was tracked down at St. Francis Subdivision in Cainta, shortly after he flew back to the country from the United States to visit family members.

Lachica was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Pasig Regional Trial Court for robbery with homicide in 1979 and escaped from New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City on March 18, 1986, according to Senior Supt. Joel Pernito, regional chief of CIDG-Calabarzon.

Authorities later learned that Lachica had turned up in Los Angeles, California, and managed to acquire American citizenship in 1990 under the name Rommel Reyes Agoncillo, Pernito said.

Lachica was brought back to Bilibid and would face charges for illegal use of an alias and falsification of public documents.