5 men get life for doctor's kidnap

MANILA, PHilippines - A Mandaluyong City judge sentenced five men to serve life terms for kidnapping a doctor six years ago and forcing her family to pay P500,000 for her ransom.

Regional Trial Court Branch 208 Judge Esteban Tacla Jr. ordered kidnappers Fernando Niegos, Alejandro Aldas, Lucensio Saliente, Zosimo Lauzon, and Silverio Superable to pay their victim, Dr. Margaret Leh Dy, P700,000 each as moral, exemplary and actual damages and refused to grant them the chance to avail of parole.

In their defense, the five men claimed they were not in Mandaluyong City when Dy was kidnapped last Aug. 13, 2003 along Wack-Wack Road.

They said they were beaten up while in the custody of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) in Camp Crame to admit the crime, and forced to sign statements without the aid of a lawyer.

Tacla said the defense presented by the five men had been “self-serving,” noting that their “alibi and denial are outweighed by positive identification that is categorical, consistent, and untainted by any ill motive on the part of the eyewitness testifying on the matter.”

Court records showed that Dy was walking along Wack-Wack Road when a van stopped near her and one of the suspects, armed with a handgun, pushed her inside.

She identified Saliente and Lauzon as those who were seated with her in the second row of the van.

The suspects forced her to wear painted glasses during a three-hour drive to a safehouse in Cavite. Dy said the glasses fell off many times, enabling her to see the faces of Aldas and Superable, who joined her in a room where she was kept until her release on Aug. 24.

It was Aldas who called up her sister, Mary Ann Lim, to demand a ransom of P20 million that was later reduced to P500,000.

Lauzon picked up the money during a pay-off in Parañaque City on Aug. 23. Dy was released the next day in Divisoria, Manila and her kidnappers gave her P600 pesos as fare money.

While in captivity, Dy was served chicken and sandwiches the kidnappers purchased from a fastfood restaurant in Bacoor, Cavite.

The five suspects were arrested on separate occasions in Leyte not for the kidnapping of Dy but for an arrest warrant for the kidnap-slay of Betti Chua Sy in November 2003.

PACER summoned Dy and she positively identified the suspects during a confrontation at Camp Crame.

After Tacla’s decision was read to them, the five men reiterated their innocence.

Dy and her sister, and Teresita Ang Sy of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO) hailed Tacla’s decision as the “triumph of justice against evil.”

Chua Sy’s father, George, is optimistic that his daughter would get justice in due time as three of her alleged killers are now behind bars.

The convicts’ lawyer asked Tacla for 15 days to appeal the ruling.