Kidnap victim slams Chinese embassy

Kidnap survivor Jacky Rowena Tiu slammed the Chinese embassy yesterday for insisting on the innocence of two of seven Chinese nationals who allegedly kidnapped her in September.

"I was never interviewed by any official of the Chinese embassy. My side was never heard, I was never given the chance to air my story. Who can possibly know better than me who is the victim?" Tiu asked in reply to a statement issued by the embassy over the weekend.

Tiu said that while it is the duty of the Chinese embassy to protect the rights of its nationals, it has exceeded that duty when it issued a diplomatic note verbale demanding the release of kidnapping suspects Zhang Du and Zhang Xiwang.

She said the embassy, which believes the two are innocent, seemed to have based its conclusion on the mere claims of the suspects, Zhang Du’s wife and the five other suspects.

But Tiu said she positively identified the seven suspects in a police lineup at Camp Crame one day after she was released.

"My positive identification was made possible because I was never blindfolded during my entire ordeal. The two claim innocence when, in fact, they were even there at the safehouse in Cavite," she said.

Tiu said she was brought to Cavite after she was kidnapped in La Union and it was at that safehouse where one of the suspects threatened to chop off one of her fingers to persuade her family to pay a P10-million ransom.

"If the embassy is so bent on protecting its nationals, then I would also like to think that it should have been more careful and thorough in its investigation cum interrogation before a conclusion was arrived at," she said.

Zhang Du has been released on bail after La Union assistant prosecutor Oscar Corpuz charged him only as a mere accessory. The six others remain in police custody.

Zhang Du and Zhang Xiwang were arrested on Oct. 4 at a supposed safehouse on No. 8 Tuesday st., St. Joseph Subdivision in Bacoor, Cavite where Tiu was brought after she was kidnapped in San Fernando, La Union where her family owns several businesses.

Police also arrested five other Chinese nationals at Room 467 of the Westin Plaza Hotel and recovered the entire P10 million the Tiu family supposedly paid the suspects as ransom.

The five other suspects are Xu You Kwang (alias Johnny Chua Co) 21; Shi Jian Hui (alias Jacky King Sy) 22; Wu Lim Chang, 25; Lim Jiang Fem (alias Jason Lim), 28; and Shi Chun Qi (alias Jacky Sy Ocampo), 23. – With Delon Porcalla