New kidnapping stirs cops

While police scrambled to solve the kidnapping over the weekend of the two children of Negros Occidental Rep. Julio Ledesma IV, kidnappers struck again and snatched another victim in Pangasinan, sources revealed yesterday.

In compliance with a directive from President Arroyo, Philippine National Police (PNP) officials clamped another "news blackout" on the incident which the sources could only describe as "not as high profile" as the kidnapping of Ledesma’s children Cristina Julieta Victoria, 10, and Julio Carlos Thomas, 5, on Friday.

According to radio reports aired over dzMM and Bombo Radyo, however, the latest victim is the wife of a millionaire businessman with varied interests in Pangasinan and was abducted by five armed men, who were on board an owner jeep and a Mitsubishi Lancer at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

A source from the military said the kidnappers are demanding from the businessman, who is linked with a well-known conglomerate, P30 million for the freedom of his wife.

The source said authorities are already staking out an inn in an eastern Pangasinan town where the woman was abducted.

Meanwhile, investigators privy to the Ledesma double kidnapping case said the two children were still in the hands of their abductors as of yesterday afternoon.

Agents of the PNP Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) and other support units are closing in on one of three well-organized crime groups listed in the police’s "order of battle."

"We are optimistic that this kidnapping will be over soon," said an official, who refused to reveal other details for fear of compromising police operations.

At the same time, negotiations for the release of the Ledesma children reached a critical stage yesterday, prompting the Negros lawmaker to ask the President to appeal to media for a news blackout on the kidnapping to ensure the safety of his children.

A similar news blackout attended the successful rescue operation for a kidnapped scion of the Lopez family, Patricia Chung, that led to the death of Pentagon gang leader Faisal Marohombsar in Cavite last month.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye refused to confirm or deny if the congressmen was negotiating with his children’s kidnappers but said "tried and tested measures are being utilized."

"We’d rather not comment at this time," Bunye said. "I can only base my response on what Congressman Ledesma said that tried and tested measures are being utilized."

He said an irate Mrs. Arroyo has ordered the PNP to review their standard operating procedures following the spate of abductions last week, including four female professors from the Mindanao State University in Marawi City.

University professors Emma Manzano, Luzvilla Serate, Editha Castillon and Salvacion Mikin were on their way home when they were seized by suspected members of the notorious Pentagon Gang shortly after noon on Friday.

The abductors sped off with the victims toward Barangay Tuka where they boarded a pump boat on Lake Lanao. No contact has yet been made with the kidnappers.

Suspected Pentagon Gang members are also believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of Filipino-American Starlze Lumapas, 15, whose parents are real estate brokers in Florida, in Cagayan de Oro City on Sept. 10.

Lumapas was released on Saturday after the alleged payment of P1.25 million in ransom.

Bunye said the President expected the PNP to redouble their efforts to stop the spate of kidnappings.

"The point is, the local authorities, especially the PNP, will probably have to redouble their efforts," Bunye said. "Maybe they should improve their surveillance and intelligence system."

Also yesterday, Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco lashed at Senior Superintendent Rodolfo de Gracia, chief of police of San Juan town where the two Ledesma children were abducted, for unnecessarily releasing information to reporters.

Velasco said that De Gracia endangered the lives of the two children after he allegedly leaked to reporters that the kidnappers demanded P60 million from Ledesma for the safe release of the children.

"I’d like to remind Superintendent De Gracia that he has two strikes under his sleeve. One more strike would automatically mean his relief from his post," Velasco said, referring to the PNP’s "Three Strikes" policy where officials are relieved when three high-profile crimes occur in their jurisdictions.

Velasco said the "first strike" was when robbers seized in Greenhills, San Juan some P8 million which was recently withdrawn from a bank by employees of the Philippine Remittance Co. on Sept. 2.

The Ledesma kidnapping actually was the third strike for De Gracia after the so-called Resto Gang struck at the Mann Hann and Port Area Grille restaurants last month.

But the twin restaurant robbery was "erased" from De Gracia’s record after he was able to arrest five suspected members of the robbery gang that preys on restaurants filled with customers.

But Velasco said he still had no basis to fire De Gracia and said he would wait for the report of De Gracia’s superior, Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento.

Meanwhile, Sacramento denied that his men failed to quickly act on the Ledesma kidnapping when it was reported over the police’s vaunted "Hotline 117."

Sacramento admitted that the EPD tactical operations center received the Hotline 117 call that reported the kidnapping of the Ledesma children at around 7:10 a.m. of Friday but the kidnapping occurred 25 minutes earlier. - With reports from Non Alquitran