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Saturday, July 22, 2006
Rich student snatched
By Mia E. Abellana
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With Linette C. Ramos
THE son of an affluent Cebuano family was kidnapped yesterday but released just a few hours later, although police said no ransom was paid.
Robert Philip Urgello, 20, arrived at the Chong Hua Hospital past 6 a.m. yesterday to meet some classmates and give them a group report he finished the night before.
Urgello, a fourth year nursing student at the University of Cebu, had decided not to attend classes because he was suffering from his asthma but delivered his report to his classmates.
As Urgello parked in front of the hospital's emergency room waiting for his classmates, two men approached him and asked him to proceed to the gray Honda City parked across the street because his classmates were waiting for him there.
When he did not move, the men forced him out of his car and dragged him to the waiting sedan. His ordeal lasted roughly two hours.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña offered a cash reward of P500,000 for any information that can lead to the arrest of the suspected kidnap-for-ransom group.
"I will find the money for it. We have to move fast on this and I can't wait for the council to make a resolution and deliberate on it. We have to find the kidnappers now while they are still here," he said.
Safehouse
Once inside the car, Urgello was blindfolded and ordered to duck.
His arms were held behind his back and his thumbs were cuffed. Beneath the blindfold, he saw that a pistol was pointed at his left jaw.
The car passed bumpy roads and humps, and made several stops and turns before arriving at a safehouse.
On the way, the car radio was tuned to an AM radio station, reporting on his kidnapping.
Inside the house, Urgello's blindfold was taken off and he was fed corned beef and rice for breakfast.
They gave him another shirt because the one he was wearing was torn in the struggle.
He noted that the windows were covered with mats to keep it dark inside.
Minutes later, he heard his captors talking and one of them said he was being released.
No ransom
He was blindfolded again and then forced inside the car. They once again passed bumpy roads, humps and made stops before he was let out.
Urgello then hailed a cab and was told he was somewhere in Mandaue City. He proceeded to Chong Hua Hospital and learned that his parents were at the Cebu City Police Office.
Supt. Pablo Labra II, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB), told reporters that Urgello was released in Mandaue City past 8 a.m.
Labra stressed that no ransom was paid.
The fact that Urgello was released baffled police investigators.
Labra said that a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) operation immediately contacts the family members just five minutes after abduction.
However, the family did not get any call from the abductors.
Organized
Labra said it was possible they mistook Urgello for someone else, or were scared that the police already had a description of the getaway car just 15 minutes after the kidnapping. Or perhaps Urgello persuaded his captors he was sick.
They are checking if the KFR gang earlier arrested at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport last March had anything to do with the kidnapping.
That's what Mayor Osmeña suspects.
"I believe it's a kidnap-for-ransom. We have to treat it as such, that's why I'm offering a reward of P500,000 to those who can identify the kidnappers. This is an organized group, they are experienced, and I suspect it's the same group who did it before," he told a news conference yesterday.
The mayor said he will make sure the P500,000 cash reward will be available soon, since he is not willing to wait for the City Council or another agency's approval to release the funds needed.
When showed photos of the KFR gang, Urgello said his captors were younger and decent-looking. He mistook them for medical students.
Silence
Though they did not wear masks, the two concealed their faces with dark sunglasses and baseball caps.
Witnesses told police that the gray Honda City with a temporary plate number was already parked in the vicinity before Urgello arrived.
After forcing Urgello inside, it turned left into the alley where the Larsian stalls are located and then proceeded to the Fuente Osmeña rotunda.
His mother Susan was shocked when she learned her son had been kidnapped, saying Robert was supposed to pick her up at their ancestral house on Urgello St. so they could go to the hospital together.
She learned her son was taken captive when she called the hospital and was told about the incident.
Susan rushed to the scene.
Labra said he was with Urgello's parents the whole time and is sure that no ransom was paid.
He added that the captors did not make an attempt to contact the parents, which is why they are considering this case as a simple abduction.
Had a ransom been demanded, Labra said they would have sent this case to the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response unit.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 22, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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