5 kidnappers get death

A Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge sentenced to death yesterday five men accused of kidnapping for ransom a Filipino-Chinese businesswoman in Quezon City three years ago.

Branch 219 Judge Jose Catral Mendoza found Reynaldo Sarabia, group leader, and his cohorts Joel Siruno, Edwin Sison, Wilfredo Semana and Macarthur Segelbo, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of conspiracy in the abduction of businesswoman Geraldine Ong, a stall owner at the Isetann Mall in Recto, Manila on Oct. 4, 1997.

The judge also convicted the suspects, all natives of Cagayan Valley, of a second charge of simple kidnapping in connection with the abduction of Geraldine's sister-in-law, Janine del Mundo Ong, whom they also snatched but subsequently released.

Mendoza imposed a 40-year jail term on each accused for the simple kidnapping case. He also ordered them to pay the victims a little over P1 million in damages and indemnities. A sixth suspect, Cheryll Sison, Sarabia's live-in partner, was acquitted for lack of evidence.

"Being Chinese and rich nowadays is no longer an enviable status to be in," noted the judge in his 37-page ruling. "People of this class have become the perennial targets of kidnappers and other criminal elements."

The accused presented denials and alibis in their defense, saying they could not have possibly participated in the crime because they were somewhere else when the abduction happened.

They presented 21 witnesses to prove their claims, including kin and local government officials who testified to have seen the suspects in their places of work and localities at the time of the abduction.

The court, however, said their defense could not overturn the testimony of one of their own -- Gerlad Inguillo -- who turned state witness and testified in court on how the group planned and executed the abduction.

He also gave credence to the testimony of the victims themselves, who positively identified the suspects as among the armed men who kidnapped them at gunpoint.

Both Geraldine and Janine tagged Sarabia as the mastermind, a claim corroborated by Inguillo. Geraldine said she was able to identify her abductors through the rubber covers the suspects haphazardly put over her eyes.

She said her abductors were careless and forgot to wear masks while they were guarding her at their safehouse.

The kidnapping happened in front of the victims' residence on 78, Kundiman St., Paltok, San Fransico Del Monte at around 7 p.m. as the two women arrived from Manila.