Cops vow to get Ledesma children’s kidnappers

Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco vowed yesterday to capture the kidnappers of the two children of Negros Occidental Rep. Julio Ledesma IV who were released Tuesday.

Velasco said he has intensified the ongoing manhunt against the kidnappers as ordered by President Arroyo and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

Meanwhile, Ebdane vowed yesterday to maintain their "tried and tested formula" to effect the speedy and safe resolution of kidnapping cases but refused to reveal further details.

"That is our trade secret... That would remain a secret, I hope, for the sake of our country," Ebdane said as he credited this formula in yesterday’s solution of yet another kidnapping case in Cavite.

At Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President remains confident that the PNP would continue to succeed in neutralizing the 21 kidnapping syndicates in its order of battle.

That is the reason the Palace refuses to compel the PNP to reveal the formula that has worked in other kidnapping cases.

"We leave it up to them because that system has been found effective. We don’t know if the full disclosure of the system would prejudice future operations," Bunye said.

Meanwhile, Velasco reiterated that police operations against the Ledesma kidnappers are ongoing.

"Police operation is continuous as those involved in the operation were already briefed," Velasco said, noting that operatives of the PNP Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER), Eastern Police District and the San Juan police are now conducting follow-up operations.

"Intelligence gathering has been intensified to assure that the kidnappers will be apprehended as soon as possible," he added.

Ledesma’s children, Cristina, 10, and Julio Carlos Thomas, 5, were snatched as they were being brought to school in San Juan last Friday but were released before dawn Tuesday after the congressman supposedly paid an undetermined ransom.

The precision of the kidnapping has led investigators to theorize that it may have been perpetrated by active or former soldiers or policemen.

The suspicion has also led an administration congressman to urge the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to check their own personnel as some of them could be kidnappers.

"They should check on their whereabouts, livelihood, lifestyle and other personal circumstances," said Rep. Prospero Nograles (Lakas, Davao City).

He said the government has an interest to protect in these uniformed personnel because it invested in their training and equipage.

"It has the obligation that their skills, weapons and other materials and equipment that it provided these personnel are not used in criminal activities," he added.

Nograles noted that the armed men who kidnapped the Ledesma children carried out their operation "in military-like fashion and with clockwork precision."

"They were heavily armed and they knew exactly what they were doing," he said.

The police, however, have refused to reveal details of the manhunt they are conducting against the Ledesma kidnappers but Velasco urged the public to report any information that could lead to the suspects’ arrest.

"The (National Capital Region Police Office) has already created the Police Express (program) in major malls where consumers, victims and concerned individuals can immediately report the incidents to which the police can immediately (respond)," Velasco said.

The Police Express program is a flagship project of the NCRPO and is being implemented in close coordination with the Philippine Association of Detective and Protective Agencies Organization (PADPAO), he explained.

The NCRPO chief also urged mall owners and their respective security agencies to cooperate with the PNP in reporting incidents of holdups, pickpockets, cell phone snatching and other crimes.

At the same time, Velasco noted that a number of South Korean, Singaporean and Malaysian kidnap gangs are operating in the country, preying exclusively on their compatriots.

"Some of these foreigners have not been kidnapped by Filipino groups but kidnapped by their own people," Velasco said in a television interview.

"The foreign groups right now are only involved in their own nationals. So Koreans against Koreans, Singaporeans against Singaporeans and Malaysians against Malaysians. This is the trend we are observing especially in kidnapping cases where foreigners are involved," he said.

He said without giving details that police busted a South Korean gang in early September. Police are looking into its possible links with rogue employees of the Bureau of Immigration.

"We found out that the people who are supposed to kidnap the Korean arrived just the same day – in the morning or probably in the afternoon – and already in the evening, they (went) and tried to kidnap the target," he said. – With Marichu Villanueva, AFP