3 children saved from kidnappers

Police rescued three children and their nanny from their abductors yesterday, less than 36 hours after they were snatched in Quezon City.

Personnel of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) also arrested six of the kidnappers, one of them a rookie policeman, in follow-up operations in Taguig and Payatas, Quezon City.

Police said they were tipped off by residents about the presence of armed men in a house in Peñafrancia, Payatas B.

Senior Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas said they immediately went to the area and found the victims being held hostage by the suspects late Wednesday.

Pacer chief Deputy Director General Oscar Calderon identified the arrested suspects as Police Officer 1 (PO1) Antonio Castillo, Godofredo Navanes, Lynfer Bicudo and Crispin Araneta, 24; and Anabelle Olidan and her husband Benjamin, 30.

Police tagged the suspects as remnants of the notorious Ilonggo kidnap-for-ransom group, the same group behind the kidnapping of Jethro Chua in December last year and of Josua Cancio on Sept. 26, 2003.

"(A) concerned citizen reported through NAKTF (National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force) hotline that suspicious and unusual personalities were sighted in a house in the area, prompting us to conduct intense surveillance," Calderon added.

Calderon said the victims — two twin boys aged 11, their nine-year-old sister and their 60-year-old nanny — were rescued unharmed during the police operation.

The three children along with their nanny were snatched while on their way to school along Miller street in Filinvest Subdivision, Quezon City on Aug. 30.

The siblings’ parents decided not to report the abductions to police for fear that their children would be hurt, but an unnamed witness called the NAKTF hotline and directed the police to the hideouts in Quezon City, police said.

A police official said the kidnappers initially demanded P50 million ransom but the parents said they did not have the amount and begged for more time to raise the money.

"Fortunately, the delay in payment of ransom worked for the victims and police as it gave concerned citizens time to call for police assistance that eventually led to the recovery of the victims," the official said.

The country is fighting a resurgence of kidnappings targeting mostly affluent Chinese families and members of the Chinese-Filipino community.

President Arroyo last year ordered a crackdown following a spate of high-profile abductions.

The problem was highlighted when a 10-year-old boy was kidnapped in Manila last Aug. 10 in broad daylight. Six people were also wounded during the snatch.

Teresita Ang-See of the Citizens Action Against Crime (CAAC) deplored the rise in kidnapping incidents which she said was largely due to a lack of budgetary support for the Pacer.

Ang-See said Pacer had nearly met its goal of "zero kidnapping" when the Aug. 10 kidnapping took place.

Ang-See praised yesterday the Pacer for the successful rescue of the three siblings and their nanny in Quezon City.

But the three siblings were traumatized by being held hostage for more than two days, she said.

Ang-See claimed she had the opportunity to talk with the victims following the rescue and that they were apparently maltreated by their captors.

"The children said they were not fed (properly) and were hit (on) different parts of their body. The marks of the packaging tape were visible in their faces. Their eyes were reddish because of the tape," Ang-See said.

She said the children were held inside a "stinking comfort room and fed only crackers" during the first day of their captivity.

The kidnappers even used the allowance of the children to buy the crackers.

"The children were crying while saying, ‘They will kill us and hit us.’ My heart bleeds for the children, imagine children like them (having) to go through such treatment," she added.

Ang-See added the victims still fear that the leader of the kidnap group will take revenge and kill them.

Police withheld the name of the alleged ringleader pending his arrest.

Ang-See said the arrest of Castillo, an active member of the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group (ASG), was disturbing.

"We feel very bothered. What are we doing with policemen implicated in kidnapping-for-ransom (incidents)? We are not just fighting criminals, we are fighting those who are supposed to protect us," Ang-See said.

A ranking police official, on the other hand, said the PNP is now finalizing its order of battle against known kidnap-for-ransom groups. He said there are at least nine big-time kidnap syndicates still operating in the country.

"The nine groups are lending their men to each other along with firearms and equipment for their operations," the official said

The official claimed most of those listed in the order of battle are remnants of crime syndicates that had been neutralized by the police and the NAKTF.

He said the arrest of the six suspects who are also tagged as members of the Ilonggo group indicated some of its members have resurfaced and are banding together to carry out kidnapping activities. — With AFP