Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza said Javier Zacate, 39, alle-gedly a top New People’s Army (NPA) cadre, was arrested in his home, along with six other men who are said to be remnants of the Waray-Ilonggo kidnap-for-ransom gang.
Zacate and his six men are now detained at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Businessmen’s Concern Office (CIDG-BCO) at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Senior Superintendent Jesus Verzosa, CIDG-BCO chief, identified the six gang members as Michael Tu- quero, 31; Wilson Agbon, 25; John Zacate, 27; Roberto Evardone, 32; Christopher Baleña, and a certain Ricky, 31.
Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, CIDG chief, said Zacate and Carlos Tizon, who are allegedly members of the NPA-Visayas Regional Party Committee, are the leaders of the gang of kidnappers.
However, Verzosa said Tizon was able to escape the dragnet police had thrown around the house of Zacate in Batasan Hills.
Verzosa said Zacate had financed the kidnapping of Pen Chang Tan, 65, along Sumulong Highway last March 8 and planned to give the ransom to the NPA.
Gualberto said the NPA could be using criminals to kidnap people so they can raise funds for their offensive operations against government troops.
But Zacate denied that he is a kidnap gang leader and an NPA member, saying that the subversive documents police found in his house were souvenirs from his days as a student activist.
Verzosa said police tightened the grip against Zacate and his gangmen after investigators learned that they had already freed Tan on Thursday night following the payment of P6 million in ransom.
At first, Tan’s family was cooperating with the police but they stopped communications after news of the killing of two kidnapped students in Baguio City appeared in the newspapers, he added.
Verzosa said two witnesses under police custody have identified Zacate and his six men as the kidnappers of Tan, in addition to the written confession of Tuquero, who is one of the suspects arrested in Batasan Hills.
Tuquero decided to squeal on his gangmates because he had only been given P1,000 as his share in the P6 million ransom paid by Tan’s family, he added.
Three of the suspects - Raymund Testado, Bong Sison and Ronaldo Domalina - are under police custody. Two other unidentified suspects remain at large.
Reports said the five suspects are officers of the Samahang Ilocano, while Leung headed the UP-Baguio chapter of the Beta Sigma fraternity.
Police said Testado wanted to kill Leung in retaliation for the abduction of a member of a sorority affiliated with the Samahang Ilocano. – Jaime Laude, Eva de Leon, Cesar Ramirez