71 Tsinoys abducted this year

A total of 71 Chinese Filipinos have been kidnapped since January this year, involving P614 million in ransom demands, P23.2 million of which was paid, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos revealed yesterday.

Marcos cited an October 2006 report of the Citizens Action Against Crime and the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order. The CAAC is headed by anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang See.

"The report is highly disturbing. Contrary to claims made by the Philippine National Police and other anti-crime agencies that they have crushed all big kidnap gangs, kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) syndicates are back,’’ Marcos said.

"The Filipino-Chinese community is very much disappointed with how the Arroyo administration is waging the war against crime,’’ she added.

She said the CAAC data meant that such a war was a failure or was merely an off-and-on drive, unlike the relentless campaign against kidnap gangs carried out during the Estrada administration.

She added the report belies the claim of PNP officials that the incidence of criminality in Metro Manila has significantly dropped.

Quoting the CAAC report, Marcos said there were 55 documented cases of kidnapping throughout the country between January and Oct. 12 this year, involving 71 victims.

Of the 55 kidnapping cases, 28 took place in Metro Manila, 13 in Mindanao, 11 in other areas in Luzon, and three in the Visayas.

Marcos said the report shows that a total of P23.2 million of the P614 million demanded by kidnap syndicates was paid by the victims’ relatives.

"There is an absence of trust in the Philippine National Police. You can no longer distinguish a law enforcer from a criminal because most of the masterminds are either ex-cops or active members of the force. It is really frustrating,’’ she said.

The number of Filipino-Chinese citizens abducted since January this year is still 11 fewer than the 82 reported kidnapped for the entire year last year.

The ransom paid between January and October this year is far smaller than the P61.6 million paid last year.

During Estrada’s time as head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC), he had one task force running after kidnap syndicates. Estrada headed PACC while vice president during the Ramos administration and later, while president.

His operating unit was Task Force Habagat, headed by then Senior Supt. Panfilo Lacson, which later became Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force of PAOCTF. Lacson remained head of the task force even when Estrada appointed him as PNP chief.

Mrs. Arroyo disbanded PAOCTF when she took over from Estrada, who was ousted in 2001 in the wake of a corruption scandal. Lacson ran for the Senate and won in the elections that year.

Despite her promise to abolish Estrada’s PACC, Mrs. Arroyo kept the commission, together with its P500 million in intelligence budget, a huge sum that has been at her disposal since 2001 for anti-crime purposes.

There are now moves in the Senate to scrap PACC’s intelligence budget. – Jess Diaz