Tsinoy woman kidnapped

Despite the scheduled execution of two convicted kidnappers on Jan. 30, a Chinese-Filipino businesswoman was abducted in front of a church in Pasay City yesterday.

Police said 67-year-old Dominga Chu was snatched by four heavily armed men in front of the Seventh Day Adventist church along Donada street near her residence.

Chu was walking home when a Hyundai van without license plates blocked her path, and two men got out and dragged her into the van.

Witnesses said two other men in a backup vehicle fired their automatic handguns at several bystanders to prevent any attempt to rescue the woman.

Two bystanders, later identified as Pedrito Ramri and Ernesto Tolentino, were hit in the thigh and were taken to the nearby Manila Sanitarium Hospital for treatment.

The kidnappers fled with Chu, leaving Ramri and Tolentino bleeding on the pavement. They also succeeded in scaring away other bystanders who were not able to recall the license plates of the backup vehicle.

Pasay City police investigators led by Inspector Jose Mansalungan said the details of the kidnapping were too sketchy to start with, adding that the Chu family, who owns a hardware store near the church where the victim was snatched, refused to cooperate with the authorities.

Mansalungan also ruled out the possibility of an uncoordinated police operation in the abduction of Chu.

He cited one instance on Dec. 26, 2003 where two Chinese-Filipino women were snatched by unidentified men near the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) compound in Muntinlupa City.

The incident turned out to be a legitimate police operation by agents of the Western Police District (WPD)-Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit but was uncoordinated. The Muntinlupa City Police reported the incident as a kidnapping, he said.

"If it was another uncoordinated police operation, the suspects would not have shot Ramri and Tolentino," Mansalungan said.

Chu’s kidnapping came a day after the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTF) presented one of the suspects in the kidnap-slay of Coca-Cola Export Corp. finance manager Betti Chua Sy.

Sy was abducted by heavily armed men on her way to work on Nov. 17 in Quezon City. Her body was found stuffed inside a garbage bag along the seafront in Parañaque City the following day.

The Sy kidnapping triggered an upsurge in kidnapping incidents in the country in recent months, prompting anti-crime groups and businessmen to call on President Arroyo to implement tougher measures and lift the moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty law.

Mrs. Arroyo also appointed former defense secretary Angelo Reyes to head NAKTF, an agency created to lead all anti-kidnapping efforts.

NAKTF has set up checkpoints in various parts of Metro Manila that have been a "resounding success," according to Reyes.

NAKTF said they will not interfere with the scheduled execution of two death convicts on Jan. 30, which is meant "to serve as a message against kidnappers."