FOR 10 LONG years, residents of an island municipality in Quezon Province were under the impression that former Polillo Vice Mayor Ramil Pancho Fajardo died in a freak accident in the high seas.
However, recent developments showed otherwise, and from how it looks, Fajardo, who is facing a string of swindling cases in court, faked his death to evade arrest.
In a spot report submitted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) northern sector, Fajardo was arrested on April 16 in Binondo, Manila by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Lucena City Regional Trial Court Judge Dennis Orendain.
NOTORIOUSLY FAMOUS
Fajardo is accused of estafa (via falsification of public documents) which dates back 2010. The court did not recommend bail provision for the former vice mayor.
Interestingly, The PH Insider also discovered that Fajardo has already been convicted and sentenced by the Infanta RTC Branch 65 to 12 to 20 years of imprisonment for scamming a private corporation engaged in the business of desiccated coconut.
In January 2011, hard-hitting broadcast journalist Ben Tulfo also tagged Fajardo for usurpation.
According to Tulfo, Fajardo, who introduced himself as his staff, solicited and collected protection money from a long list of businessmen, government officials and even crime syndicates. Fajardo, he added, used fake ID purportedly issued by his media entity Bitag.
ENTITLED DETAINEE
According to an Insider, Fajardo has remained under the CIDG custody since his arrest on April 16.
When asked about Fajardo’s condition, the source said: “Andun pa rin sa CIDG north sector, sarap buhay… pinapayagan gumamit ng cellphone.
Under existing rules, fugitive from justice – especially if convicted — should be brought to the court, which in turn will issue a commitment order for the transfer of the convict to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to serve jail time as stipulated under the promulgation.
“Ang nakakapagtaka, hindi pa yata alam ng korte na nasa CIDG custody na yung tao [Fajardo] kaya hindi pa maibiyahe sa Munti,” he added.
EASY WAY OUT
Since 2003, several high-profile cases in the Philippines involve individuals faking their deaths to evade criminal liability or financial debt, often using fraudulent documents or staged scenes.
Notable cases include that of textbook scam suspect Mary Ann Maslog who faked her death to evade a P24-million graft case. She lived under the alias “Jessica Francisco” for five years and even convinced her own child to report her as dead before being rediscovered by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in 2024.
Pajero lady Maria Lourdes de Guzman, known for high-profile robberies, also faked her death in 2003 to evade authorities before being captured in 2005.
A woman in Isabela went viral in March 2026 for allegedly faking her death—including sending a photo of herself appearing lifeless—to avoid paying debts.
Elizabeth Greenwood, researcher who, as part of her research for a book on death fraud, officially faked her death in the Philippines using “death kits” purchased for roughly £350, which included buying an unclaimed corpse from a morgue.
