Roldan visited kidnapped boy, witness tells court

A police official testified in court yesterday that former congressman and actor Dennis Roldan, along with rumored girlfriend Suzette Wang and another accused in a kidnapping case, visited the safe house where a three-year-old boy was being held days after he was abducted in Pasig City.

At the resumption of the trial of Roldan and his five co-accused, Senior Inspector Alren Juaneza said he and two other agents of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) were conducting surveillance operations at the kidnappers’ safe house in Quezon City when Roldan, Wang and East Kamias barangay chairman Octavio Garces dropped by and stayed for a few minutes.

Juaneza told Judge Agnes Carpio of Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 161 that their superiors had ordered them to stake out the house following reports that "suspicious-looking persons," believed to be the kidnappers of the boy, were seen in the area.

The Filipino-Chinese boy was kidnapped at the Ortigas Center on Feb. 8. PACER agents rescued him in Cubao, Quezon City 17 days later.

During direct examination by lawyer Mario Ongkiko, the PACER official said that on Feb. 17, Roldan, Wang and Garces arrived at the safe house at 32 Zamboanga street near West Avenue at 2:40 p.m. on board a metallic purple Toyota Corolla, allegedly owned by the former lawmaker.

Juaneza said he saw Roldan step out of the car, followed by Wang and Garces. They stayed inside the safe house for five minutes.

The trio then drove off, taking Masbate street, Juaneza added. Roldan was the driver of the car.

Garces has denied taking part in the kidnapping of the boy, saying he even tried to convince Roldan to release the boy to authorities.

Garces and Roldan are childhood friends.

Defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, however, tried to destroy the credibility of Juaneza, who admitted that he neither filed a written report about the incident nor did he take pictures to document it.

Fortun noted lapses in procedural matters during the alleged stake out.

Juaneza admitted that he had no camera with him when he conducted the surveillance. He said his superior brought a video camera to the observation post fronting the safe house hours later.

Roldan and Wang have been implicated in the kidnapping, along with Adrian Domingo, Rowena and Noel San Andres and Romeo Orcajada.

The judge set the next hearing for Oct. 10.