Famous fugitives

PEOPLE of a certain age might recall Dr. Richard Kimble when they hear the word “fugitive.”

Kimble, played by David Janssen, was the protagonist in a popular American TV series that ran from 1963 to 1967. Wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, Kimble went on the run after the train taking him to death row derailed, allowing him to escape.

Over 120 episodes, he traveled crosscountry searching for the real killer, a “one-armed man” that the police didn’t believe existed. Some 78 million viewers tuned in to the finale to see Kimble catch up with the one-armed man and clear himself of murder.

The Philippines, too, has had its share of famous fugitives, though of the nonfictional variety.

Gregorio — known as Gringo — Honasan was a serial coup plotter, launching six unsuccessful attempts to overthrow President Cory Aquino after he helped propel her into office in the 1986 People Power uprising.

His sixth attempt, on Aug. 28, 1987, left 53 people dead, including some civilians who were fired upon by the rebels after they were jeered by the crowd.

Honasan was captured but managed to escape from a prison ship in April 1988 and went into hiding for four years before receiving an amnesty from President Fidel Ramos in 1992.

Despite his criminal past, Honasan was elected senator twice — in 1995 and 2001 — before going into hiding again in 2006, this time over his alleged involvement in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

Some 11 years later, then-president Rodrigo Duterte revealed that he had sheltered Honasan in Davao when he was evading the law.

“During the days of crisis or the days of living dangerously, I and Gringo… he was wanted by the government but he was in Davao with me,” Duterte said.

“We were having a great time rambling down the streets of Davao, eating durian on the sidewalk. And my God, nobody recognized Senator Honasan. And I said, that is how our Armed Forces is,” he said.

Another senator who went into hiding was Panfilo Lacson. A former police chief before becoming senator, Lacson fled the country in 2010 to avoid arrest for his alleged involvement in a double murder case. Lacson returned to the country after 14 months in hiding when a friendlier administration was in power, and when the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals’ decision to withdraw the murder charges against him because the main witness against him was not credible.

In an interview in 2012, Lacson said his police training helped him avoid arrest.

“I was hiding in a few countries. How did you evade arrest for 14 months? I guess I was used to past police training. Also, because I myself was fighting and pursuing criminals, so I know how to evade arrest,” he said.

Lacson spoke of creating fake email addresses and using different IP addresses to avoid detection and working through decoys. But he refused to say how he continued to travel abroad after the government canceled his passport.

In a more recent case, Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves hid abroad when he was charged for the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo in 2023. He was denied political asylum in Timor-Leste, where local police later arrested him while he was playing golf. His lawyers, however, are putting up a fight to stop him from being sent back to the Philippines to face trial.

A former prisons chief, Gerald Bantag, accused of being the mastermind behind the 2022 murder of radio journalist Percival Mabasa is still at large, although the trigger man has been convicted and sentenced to up to 16 years.

Then of course, there’s former president Duterte’s spiritual advisor, Apollo Quiboloy, who is wanted in the United States and facing charges here for sexual abuse of children and human trafficking. Arrest warrants have been issued for Quiboloy, who is based in Davao, but almost a month later, police still seem unable to find him. Maybe they should check for people on the sidewalk, eating durian with a former president in his home city.

All these cases show that the rich and well-connected don’t have to submit to the law like ordinary people, especially if they can afford to hide abroad. They don’t even need to exonerate themselves like Kimble did. They can just play the fugitive — maybe take in a little golf or chew on some durian — and wait for the political winds to change in their favor.