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Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Mayor suspects kidnap group’s link to generals
CEBU CITY -- The four suspected members of a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) gang arrested last March 5 were out to collect ransom at the Mactan airport for a businessman their group already held captive, a Cebuano trader said.
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Roberto Go confirmed that a Manila-based businessman who has properties and a factory in Cebu was in the hands of the kidnappers that time but the payoff was foiled by the arrest.
Go, who got his information from sources close to the victim and from stories circulating in the business community, said the businessman was released without ransom when the companion of those arrested released the victim for fear of a trace.
Police Regional Office 7 Director Eduardo Gador admitted receiving reports that a kidnapping incident took place, but said they are still verifying the information.
But evidence confiscated from a second safehouse rented by the suspected KFR gang in Sitio Motorpool, Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City seems to bolster the report.
Police seized a chain with padlocks, a pail that smelled of urine, police uniforms and sweatshirts, eight fake license plates, four police badges, masking tape, a cloth mask and a bandana folded into a gag.
Also found were a handheld video game, folded paper birds, an old television set, mattresses, electric fans, a liquefied petroleum gas tank and cooking pots.
A police team led by Deputy Regional Director for Operations Lani-o Nerez, and Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Branch Chief Juanito Enguerra asked a caretaker if they could inspect the room.
Asked if the evidence led them to believe that a kidnap victim was once held in the house, Gador said, "Murag ingon ana (It looks like it)."
"Threatened na sad ta. Lisod man muingon ta og wa. As much as possible we want to put a stop to this threat (It's difficult to say there's no threat)," he said.
This prompted Gador to create a special unit to address reports on kidnapping. The unit will remain nameless to the public and its members unknown.
The four suspected KFR members -- brothers Jessie and Ronald Pepino, Richard Orayan and Crisologo Puzon -- were released last March 7 after their posted bail for charges of usurpation of authority.
Anti-kidnapping crusaders said two of the suspects were wanted for kidnapping cases in Manila. The four men remain at large, along with their unidentified companions.
Finding the speedy release of four men suspicious, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said top generals in the police and the military may be connected to the group's operations.
He asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to review how the suspects were arrested up to the police action taken during their release, including statements coming from police officials who are investigating the matter.
Judging from the evidence confiscated from the suspects, the mayor said an organized, well-funded, and highly experienced group is behind their operations.
Osmeña said the immediate release clearly shows the lack of coordination among the law enforcement agencies.
The mayor also wants the NBI to find out who is responsible for the screw-up in the release of the suspects, who posted P10,000 bail each.
"How these people got off for P10,000 might have been a deliberate implementation of a back-up plan," he said.
For her part, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), called on all peace and order agencies to properly coordinate among themselves and expressed disappointment over the release of the four suspected KFR members.
She also expressed her dismay at the failure of the law enforcement agencies to formally inform her about the group, she being the chairman of the RPOC.
Meanwhile, the caretaker of the safehouse told police that among the four men arrested, he was only familiar with Jessie, who introduced himself as a contractor named "Engineer Boyet Gonzales."
The suspects began renting the room for P12,000 a month since December 3.
Aside from Pepino, the caretaker said a woman and four other men, one of whom was identified as Jake, stayed in the house. He noticed that the house was full of activity between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.
He added that two cars, a Mazda and a Mitsubishi Galant, frequented the house.
This is the second safehouse raided by the police, the first being in Sitio Kinalumsan, Barangay Gun-ob.
In that raid, police found clothes, books, bio-data sheets of three women applying as factory workers and special and general orders, which Enguerra believes were bogus. (AIV/MEA/LCR/MDB of Sun.Star Cebu)
(March 14, 2006 issue)
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