P.6 M paid for trader's release

Heavily armed men, suspected to be henchmen of a local politician, abducted a Quezon City businessman in his fish farm in San Jose, Mindoro Occidental last Friday night and released him unharmed yesterday afternoon after his family paid a ransom of P600,000.

Police said about five to nine armed men, wearing ski masks and riding a pumpboat, sneaked into the fish farm of Dindo Goco at Sinaoga Island in San Jose town at about 7 p.m.

Goco, 47, also operates a salt factory on the island.

Police said Goco and four of his 11 workers, identified as Marieta Roja and a certain Junior, Napoleon and Igme, were initially herded inside the fish farm's resthouse before they were brought to Magsaysay town where they were separated into two groups.

But before leaving, the armed men instructed Goco's other workers to contact his wife and relay their demand for a P1-million ransom.

Upon reaching Magsaysay town, the abductors released Roja with instructions to pick up the ransom money from Goco's wife and deliver it to them. They lowered the ransom to P600,000.

Lawmen were alerted on the abduction and laid out a plan to entrap the kidnappers. However, they arrived several minutes late for the payoff somewhere between Barangays Paclolo and Mapaya in Magsaysay town.

Police reports obtained by The STAR showed that Goco's abductors could be the henchmen of a local politician.

Superintendent Leo Garra, Mindoro Occidental police director, said that shortly before the payoff, the politician was seen in Barangay Mapaya with a woman aboard a motorcycle.

Garra said one of Goco's abductors looked like one of the politician's henchmen.

In another incident, a Filipino-Chinese trader kidnapped in Iligan City last Jan. 28 was freed by his abductors last Saturday night in exchange for P150,000 for "board and lodging," police said.

Gilbert Chin, who looked haggard and emaciated, was turned over to Iligan City Mayor Franklin Quijano in Poona Piagapo, Lanao del Sur.

Chin said he was kept in the hinterlands of Lanao del Sur.

Chin's abductors initially demanded P200,000 but later reduced the amount to P150,000. - With Lino de la Cruz