Assisted by Interior and Local Government Secretary and concurrent NAKTF chief Angelo Reyes, Mrs. Arroyo handed the reward to three hooded informants, including a blue-eyed, Caucasian-looking man.
Two of the informants received P1 million while the third received P500,000 in bundles of P500 bills contained in transparent bags.
In her brief remarks after the Palace ceremony, the President thanked the informants for their help in the capture of kidnapping suspects Arnel Suellen, Zosimo Lauzon and Alexander Aldas.
"I would like to thank our citizens who cooperated with our law enforcers," she said.
The President called on the victims and families to do their share "in seeing their cases (against the alleged kidnappers) through."
"Now that we have made several spectacular arrests of the most wanted kidnappers, the next step is prosecution," she said.
The reward ceremony gained added significance with yesterday’s disclosure by Reyes that Mrs. Arroyo had agreed to reconsider her decision to abolish the NAKTF in favor of an expanded General Anti-Crime Task Force (GACTF).
Reyes and the NAKTF board of advisers, led by Teresita Ang-See of the Citizens Action Against Crime (CAAC), met with Mrs. Arroyo behind closed doors shortly before the ceremony.
In the meeting Ang-See cautioned against the deactivation of the NAKTF, which she credited for keeping the number of kidnapping incidents in the country in check.
In his press briefing, Reyes said the division of functions between the NAKTF and GACTF was still being worked out.
"We will announce the results of the final configuration of the entire thing as soon as we are through with the study," he said.
But Reyes indicated that the anti-crime task forces would no longer be under the President’s direct control. The NAKTF presently operates under the Office of the President.
"So the task forces would be at the level of the Secretary of Interior and Local Government," he said.
Reyes allayed fears that the new setup would mean a reduction in the resources devoted to the campaign against crime.
"This does not prevent the (DILG) from getting into a memorandum of agreement or memorandum of understanding with other departments so that it would continue to be a multi-agency, multi-departmental task," he said.
Mrs. Arroyo announced the abolition of the NAKTF last July 27 during the presentation to the media of Aldas, said to be a member of the notorious Waray-Waray kidnap for ransom group.
Aldas was captured on July 23 in Barangay Layon, Ligao City, Albay. He carried a P1 million bounty on his head as one of the suspects in the kidnap-slay of Coca-Cola executive Betty Chua Sy.
One factor that may have contributed to the President’s decision to reconsider the abolition of the NAKTF was the report of a "live" kidnapping case involving the abduction last Monday of two sons of a Chinese-Filipino family in Cavite.
Reyes himself confirmed the incident before palace reporters yesterday.
"These are live cases and as usual we’d rather not discuss in public situations of kidnappings which are still going on," he said. "I cannot tell you the details but we’re still trying to get the family to cooperate for the safe recovery of the kidnapped victims."
Since its formation in October last year, the NAKTF has reported the capture of 135 kidnapping suspects, including 14 in its "most wanted" list.