Kidnapped American toddler rescued

MANILA (2nd Update) -- Police said they have rescued a two-year-old American boy who was kidnapped for ransom from his home in northern Pampanga province. Two kidnappers were arrested.

Senior Superintendent Renato Gumban, Officer-in-Charge of the newly re-organized Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), said that the son of US citizen Jayvee Woo was rescued unharmed from his kidnappers on Friday morning near the San Lorenzo Church in Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Gumban said the boy was snatched at gunpoint by masked suspects from Woo's residence in San Fernando City last August 15. The gunmen also took a portable vault containing assorted jewelry and a silver BMW X3 in their escape.

The kidnappers contacted Woo in the afternoon of August 15, demanding P50-million ($1.18 million) ransom for the safe release of the boy.

After a series of negotiations with the family, the kidnappers accepted a counter-offer of P250,000 ($5,900) with instructions to deliver the ransom in Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga, Gumban said.

Suspect Michael Roque, 36, of San Carlos City, Pangasinan, was promptly arrested by AKG operatives after receiving the ransom and handing over the boy to his father.

In a follow-up operation, Rogelio Ramos, alias Jun-Jun, 44, of Dau Homesite, Mablacat, Pampanga, was also apprehended.

Woo's carjacked sports utility vehicle was later recovered along the Friendship Highway in Angeles City, Gumban said.

National Police Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome ordered Gumban and police units to hit hard on known organized syndicated crime groups engaged in kidnapping and other forms of heinous crime activity. (SDR/AP/Emmanuel Louis Bacani/Sunnex)