4 kidnap suspects slain

MABITAC, Laguna — Four men, including two brothers believed to have been part of a gang that abducted a two-year-old boy early last month, were killed in an alleged shootout with National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (Naktaf) agents here yesterday.

The four were killed nearly 24 hours after two of their accomplices were arrested and the boy, Gian Jethro Chua, was rescued.

"It is confirmed, they have been killed," Naktaf spokesman Lt. Col. Danilo Servando said.

Authorities identified three of the slain suspects as Rogelio Ramoso and his brother Ronald, both of San Pedro, Laguna, and Ricky Original of Pototan, Iloilo. The fourth remains unidentified.

Servando said the gunfight broke out when the suspects opened fire at lawmen trailing their gray Mitsubishi Lancer car with license plates TSM-445.

Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Varilla said the Calamba City police had been on the lookout for the suspects’ car based on the descriptions supplied by Naktaf.

Varilla said lawmen spotted the car in Lumban town and tailed the suspects until they reached Mabitac where the shootout erupted.

"The car was already marked. They sped off after the lawmen spotted them in Lumban town all the way to Kalayaan town. They were later cornered in Lumban," Varilla said.

The suspects reportedly tried to shoot it out with the lawmen after their car slammed into a hill in Barangay Putat. The gunfight lasted 10 minutes, leaving all four suspects dead, police said.

No police officer were hurt in the shootout. Lawmen recovered from the slain suspects a Carbine rifle, two caliber .38 revolvers and a grenade.

Naktaf officials said it was the same car used by the suspects when they received the P1 million ransom from the victim’s family.

Chua, who was kidnapped on Dec. 2, was rescued Tuesday in a joint operation by Naktaf and Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (Pacer) from a rented house in Panama Homes Subdivision, Barangay Bukal in Calamba after one of the suspects was arrested during the ransom payoff.

The kidnappers initially negotiated for a P50-million ransom and later agreed to lower the ransom to just over P1 million.

The boy’s parents personally delivered the ransom money at an agreed place but the kidnappers reneged on their promise to release the victim by demanding P5 million more.

This prompted the Chuas to seek the assistance of Naktaf, which lost no time in conducting surveillance and follow-up operations.

A sting operation was conducted where one of the suspects was arrested during the supposed payoff.

The unnamed suspect later broke down and led authorities to the kidnappers’ lair in Calamba, leading to the arrest of another suspect. Police have identified one of the arrested suspects as Wyte Patrana.

Chua’s abduction was among a recent spate of kidnappings targeting members of the wealthy Chinese-Filipino community.

In November, the body of Coca-Cola executive Betti Chua Sy was found stuffed in a garbage bag by a Manila roadside a day after she was kidnapped.

Independent statistics showed that kidnapping has reached a 10-month high in the country with an average of one victim every three days. - With reports from Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez, AFP