By Aaron Recuenco
Challenge accepted.
A convicted rapist who had been taunting policemen to arrest him by posting a selfie with cops on the background finally got what he wanted.
(Pixabay/ Manila Bulletin)
But 36-year old Radden Argomido is still lucky he did not fight back when Metro Manila policemen chanced upon him in San Pedro City in Laguna, leading to his arrest after several years of playing hide-and-seek with cops.
Argomido was convicted on November 23, 2016 for raping a woman in Los Banos, Laguna. He was able to elude arrest despite repeated attempts to arrest him.
The first bold dare against policemen made by Argomido was on January 1, 2018 when he returned to the barangay where he committed the rape and brazenly stabbed the 66-year old father of his victim.
Fortunately, his victim’s father survived the attack despite suffering 15 stab wounds.
The last straw which caught the attention of Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar was when he posted a selfie right inside a police station with policemen on the background also in January this year on his Facebook account.
Eleazar, now the director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), made a commitment to get Argomido to teach him a lesson about messing with the law.
Argomido’s selfie went viral with some netizens even hitting the PNP for his bold action. It did not sit well with Eleazar and some cops.
“He became elusive, he kept on transferring from one place to another to elude arrest,” said Eleazar.
But on Tuesday, operatives of the NCRPO Regional Special Operations Unit chanced upon Argomido on Manga corner Avocado streets, Pacita 2, San Pedro City, Laguna.
“This is a result of our relentless technical investigation, continuous surveillance and manhunt operation against him until he was finally arrested,” said Eleazar.
Argomido is currently under the custody of the NCRPO and is expected to be transferred to the National Bilibid Prisons for his rape conviction.
Aside from his conviction, he is still facing a case of frustrated murder for stabbing the father of his rape victim.