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Saturday, November 22, 2003
Arroyo issues shoot order for kidnappers
MANILA -- President Arroyo issued Friday a shoot-to-kill order against suspected kidnappers who resist police arrest and engage authorities in a shootout with a warning that they cannot escape from their misdeeds forever.
The President also doubted the implementation of the death penalty as a deterrent to kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) activities and other heinous crimes.
Arroyo's shoot-to-kill order came after a 10-year-old Chinese-Filipino student was abducted by armed men along Quirino highway, and a day after a policeman was killed in an encounter with a suspected KFR group in Bataan.
"I am ordering the authorities to give no quarter to armed kidnap suspects that resist arrest; and I would like to seek the full cooperation of the public in this campaign," Arroyo said.
Police initially identified the abducted student as Jolina Dee of the Saint Peter the Apostle Parish School along Quirino Avenue.
Witnesses said the victim was riding a maroon Honda Civic (UCZ 793), which was about to enter the school compound, when the kidnap gang alighted from a green Toyota Revo (WMK 972) and opened fire at the victim's car.
Dee's driver and nanny were wounded in a hail of bullets after her abductors fired at close range.
The driver, Hilario Responso, was shot in the head and nanny Maricel de Dios suffered gunshot wounds in the back.
Both were rushed to Philippine General Hospital and are reported to be in critical condition.
The armed men took Dee and fled aboard the Revo, heading in a northern direction. The kidnapping was the second to happen in Metro Manila this week.
On Tuesday, Chinese-Filipina Betti Chua Sy was killed by her abductors and was dumped along the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City.
On Thursday, police killed suspected kidnap group leader Roberto Obeles Yap and arrested three of his cohorts during an encounter in the municipality of Dinalupihan in Bataan province.
Yap, a Chinese-Filipino physician, is allegedly the leader of the Obeles-Yap kidnap gang.
Police said Yap was behind a string of kidnapping cases and was meted out the death penalty in absentia on July 31 last year by the Pasay Regional Trial Court for the kidnapping of Chinese-Filipino student Florliz So.
Police, however, have not confirmed a link between the slain gang members and the Sy kidnapping.
Arroyo said after the top kidnap gang was accounted for, authorities should now go after the remaining five active kidnap rings operating in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog regions.
She reiterated her assurance to the Filipino-Chinese community that the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF), headed by anti-kidnap czar Angelo Reyes, would be "relentless in its efforts to contain this threat."
She lauded the law enforcers who engaged the Obeles Yap gang in a firefight, particularly Esguerra, whom she said "exemplifies the tenacity with which we must fight this menace."
Threat
Meanwhile, remnants of the suspected KFR group, led by Yap, Dinalupihan, Bataan, threatened to kill Angeles City police director Sr. Supt Jimmy F. Restua and the rest of his family.
In an electronic mail sent to Sun.Star Pampanga at 4:09 p.m. Friday, the remaining members of the group vowed vengeance after their leader was killed in a brief encounter with law enforcers Thursday.
One "Bert Yap Jr." with an e-mail address sent the death threat at 4:09 p.m. Similar warnings were believed sent to relatives of the group's victims.
The Angeles City police, led by Restua, were about to serve a warrant of arrest for Yap and his companions at his apartment in Barangay Bangcal, Dinalupihan, Bataan Thursday dawn when the suspects fired upon them with an M-203 grenade launcher.
PO1 Joselito Esguerra, an Angeles City Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) member, was instantly killed, while Restua and four of his men were seriously wounded by the grenade blast.
Restua received commendations from several business and political leaders for busting the suspected kidnap-for-ransom group.
Death Penalty
President Arroyo believes that a quick resolution of the crime and the swift meting out of justice would be more effective in preventing crimes than enforcing death penalty.
The President made the statement following the clamor of some sectors, including lawmakers led by Senators Robert Barbers and Ramon Magsaysay Jr., for the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty following the
kidnapping-slaying of Chua-Sy.
"It is doubtful if this would effectively prevent such heinous crimes in the long run. I believe more in the forceful and uncompromising implementation of criminal justice under our Christian values. The best way to deter crime is effective prevention, quick resolution and swift justice," she said.
She added the government is now working on a holistic approach to deter crimes dependent on "institutional effectiveness rather than terminal retribution."
She also assured the public that she would continue to reassess the options available to effectively prevent KFR activities and other heinous crimes, including the possibility of implementing the death penalty.
Arroyo said she would regularly consult the members of Congress on the issue "and I will take my cue from them."
Barbers felt that the moratorium has weakened the government's anti-crime campaign, while Magsaysay felt that resuming the implementation of the death penalty would prove the government's resolve going after criminals.
Records show that seven criminals-four rapist and three robber-killers-have already been executed since Republic Act 7659 was enacted in December. Leo Echegaray, convicted for incest, was the first to be executed
by lethal injection in February 1999.
Warning
Arroyo also warned kidnappers and other criminal elements that the law never sleeps nor can they escape from their misdeeds forever.
Arroyo's warning came amid a series of abduction incidents and in an apparent move to bring back the confidence of potential investors who threatened to pull out and invest in other countries amid the rising wave of abduction incidents in the county.
Arroyo also disclosed some of Sy's killers were already booked and their suspected leader killed during an encounter with policemen.
Arroyo attributed the quick solution of the Sy kidnap-murder case to the close cooperation between the public and the police, particularly by former Defense Secretary Reyes.
Arroyo said there is a need to reform the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines because of the imperatives of peace and order, the war against terrorism and the vision of a drug-free Philippines in 2005.
She claimed the reforms already started by leveling the salaries of policemen and soldiers to that of teachers. She, however, pointed out that true reforms means a graft-free PNP and AFP hierarchies.
"We increased the salaries of policemen and military personnel to the level of the teachers, but we need to reform them towards graft-free and dedicated organizations with the tools to enforce peace and order throughout the land, and to be true protectors of the people," Arroyo added.(With Miko Santos of Sun.Star Luzon and Harley F. Palangchao of Sun.Star Baguio and Rhay Navales of Sun.Star Pampanga)
(November 22, 2003 issue)
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