GMA holds photo-op with kidnap suspects

Four more kidnap for ransom suspects were presented to President Arroyo at Malacañang yesterday amid growing criticism from opposition leaders who scored the President’s "photo-ops" with captured criminal suspects.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier criticized the President for what he called "cheap gimmicks" that demean the seat of government.

The four arrested kidnap for ransom suspects — three men and a woman — were brought to the Palace by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. and Philippine National Police (PNP) officials led by PNP Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and PNP Intelligence Group director Chief Superintendent Robert Delfin.

Mrs. Arroyo hailed Ebdane and the newly created Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) for the speedy resolution of the kidnapping of 15-year-old Sarah Kathleen Pacquing that resulted in the arrest of four of the suspects. The suspects were all garbed in orange T-shirts with "PACER Detainee" tags on them when they were presented to the President.

Pacquing was kidnapped last July 23 in Manila, one day after the President declared "total war" on kidnapping rings and other criminal syndicates, as well as the illegal drug trade, terrorists, smugglers and tax evaders.

Dismissing Lacson’s tirades against her, the Chief Executive vowed yesterday to continue to highlight her administration’s "total war" policy on crime and threats to national security.

"The PNP is working double-time hunting the 21 kidnap for ransom groups (on the PNP order of battle) as I have ordered. They are in current cases, successfully rescuing victims and arresting kidnappers. Every arrest and every rescue brings us closer to our goals," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"There will be no rest until kidnappers get the justice they deserve," the President said, congratulating Lina and Ebdane "for a job well done."

Ebdane reported to the President yesterday that the PNP has dismantled two of the 21 kidnap syndicates on the PNP order of battle, namely the Villaver and Solido gangs.

Immediately after the safe release of Pacquing, the President said, PACER investigators conducted an intensive manhunt for the kidnappers based on the debriefing of the victim, who was able to provide case investigators with physical descriptions of two of her captors – the negotiator and leader of the kidnap gang and the caretaker of the house in Imus, Cavite where she was held.

The PACER agents conducted follow-up operations that resulted in the arrest of the four suspects, including the Pacquing family driver Neslon Pilar.

When presented to the President, Pilar, 39, insisted he was innocent and the President told him: "You will be given due process."

The three other kidnapping suspects were Joseph Randy Mendoza, 32; Joselito Mortega, 31, and Ma. Victoria Acuatin, 38.

Jobless, Mendoza is a resident of Imus and was tagged by police as the gang leader and negotiator, while Mortega, also jobless and a resident of Parañaque, was identified as the ransom-taker. Acuatin was the caretaker of the house where Pacquing was taken by her kidnappers.

PACER agents recovered from the suspects cash amounting to P47,000, which they believe is part of the ransom payment, two hand guns, two cellular phones used in the negotiations and two automated teller machine (ATM) cards belonging to the victim and her mother, Evelyn.

The President was at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters last Wednesday to witness the presentation to media of a Land Bank of the Philippines branch manager arrested for the diversion of P200 million in tax payments and at the filing of collection and criminal charges against two of 300 firms that under-declared their Value Added Taxes (VAT) at the Head office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) main office in Quezon City last Thursday.

Mrs. Arroyo also took the opportunity to present a cash reward of P853,144.99 to an unidentified police informer whose tip had enabled police to "discover and destroy a big, clandestine" shabu laboratory in Varsity Hills, Quezon City last June 18. The informant’s head was covered with a black T-shirt to protect his identity and he was only addressed by the President as "friend."

The President said the informant’s tip aided the police in conducting a drug bust that resulted in the seizure of 44.39 kilos of shabu and 50.67 kilos of ephedrine, a controlled drug used in the manufacture of shabu. Arrested in the July 18 drug bust were seven Chinese nationals and their three Filipina cohorts.