Kidnap-for-ransom suspect falls

A man wanted for the abduction of a wealthy Filipino-Chinese businessman in Lucena, Quezon province four years ago was finally arrested yesterday.

Policemen from the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) and the Quezon City Police District caught Rolando Pardito, 25, at the Freedom Park in Batasan Hills on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the Lucena City Regional Trial Court Branch 8. Pardito has a bounty of P300,000 on his head.

Razon, who is the concurrent chief of PACER, warned other fugitives that the long arm of the law will surely catch them.

PACER deputy chief Senior Superintendent Edgar Iglesia said Pardito was arrested after his agents received tips from concerned citizens regarding Pardito’s whereabouts.

Iglesia said PACER is still hunting down the remaining members of 12 kidnap-for-ransom groups already neutralized since 2002, mostly from the Waray-Waray gang.

Aside from Pardito, also charged in connection with the kidnapping were Pardito’s father, Leopoldo, who died in the Quezon City jail in 2003 due to a stroke; and brother Mario, who was killed in an encounter with policemen in 2004, Razon said.

He said police have yet to determine if Pardito is facing other criminal cases.