P15-M sought for girl, trader

In utter defiance of President Arroyo’s total war against kidnapping for ransom, kidnappers struck anew and separately abducted a young girl and a businessman over the past three days.

Both victims have not been identified as the two cases were categorized by the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) unit as "highly classified."

Police have tried to keep the two incidents under wraps, but sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said the girl, a daughter of a wealthy businessman, was seized on Wednesday somewhere in southern Metro Manila.

The abductors reportedly demanded P5 million for the girl’s release.

On the other hand, the businessman was abducted somewhere in Laguna on Thursday. His captors were asking P10 million for his freedom, the police sources said.

The businessman’s Ford Expedition was found abandoned in Calamba City in Laguna and was taken to the provincial police headquarters in the capital town of Sta. Cruz for safekeeping.

No further details of the twin abductions were made available to reporters.

The President earlier gave the Philippine National Police under the stewardship of its newly installed chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., one year to eradicate kidnapping and the illegal drugs trade.

Taking a tougher stance against organized crime, particularly kidnapping which has been holding back the country’s economic development, Mrs. Arroyo said she would invoke the Catholic teaching of retribution — "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" — for crimes committed against the people.

The President issued the stern warning during a visit to Camp Crame on July 12 where she graced an anti-crime workshop wherein 21 kidnapping syndicates were identified.

Three of the 21 crime rings were the Bucala gang, the Fajardo gang and the Villaver gang which sources said was actually a breakaway faction of the Fajardo gang and has been neutralized.

Bucala was allegedly killed by his own men although this has not been confirmed, while Fajardo has fled to Italy.

However, the Fajardo and Bucala gangs, composed mostly of policemen and soldiers still in active service, reportedly continued to operate despite the absence of their respective leaders.

Mrs. Arroyo said Ebdane will submit to her a shopping list of the things needed for an effective implementation of an all-out anti-crime drive.

She vowed to personally monitor the campaign to be spearheaded by the PACER headed by Ebdane himself.

She stressed that the principle of harsh retribution could be applied to heinous crimes which are punishable by death under Philippine laws.

Junking an appeal by the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Mrs. Arroyo lifted a moratorium on the execution of prisoners convicted of heinous crimes.

At least three death row inmates are lined up for execution by lethal injection.

"So if the death penalty is needed, perhaps, at least for the first one, two, or three executions would be the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth of my administration," the President said.

She lamented that despite government efforts to stamp out criminality, crime gangs continue to ply their nefarious trades with impunity.

The President also outlined her administration’s determination to apply the full force of the law on criminal syndicates in her remarks at the presentation of the Philippine Human Development Index Report held at Malacañang.