Third suspect in American trader’s abduction identified

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday that the third suspect in the kidnapping of American businessman Henry Sia has been identified and kidnap for ransom charges will be filed against all three next week.

Vicente de Guzman III, NBI-Special Action Unit (SAU) chief, said the suspect was identified as Aurelio Pavo Jr., 28, of Tondo, Manila, who was positively identified by the victim.

Pavo joins two other suspects, policemen brothers PO2s Clifford and Jeffrey de Guzman. Clifford is from the Regional Headquarters Support Group (RHSG) of the National Capital Region (NCR) while Jeffrey is assigned at the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Division of the Manila Police District (MPD).

Pavo and Jeffrey de Guzman were both arrested for abducting John Chua of Tondo, Manila. Clifford de Guzman, however, remains at large.

The NBI said that they are also contemplating to include in the list of respondents De Guzman’s live-in partner, Marissa Villamor, who owns the Toyota van, with license plate RAM-479, reportedly used by the suspects in Sia’s abduction. Sia was also kept inside a house in Quezon City that she and De Guzman owned.

NBI records showed that the suspects abducted Sia last Sept. 1 while he was cruising along Fugoso Street in Sta. Cruz, Manila in his Mitsubishi Pajero. They introduced themselves as police officers and demanded that he alight from his vehicle.

The suspects reportedly demanded from Sia’s family an initial amount of P5 million. But after negotiations, the family was able to reduce the ransom money to P200,000. He was released the following day in Banaue, Quezon City.