3 kidnappers of bank exec’s children killed

LEGAZPI CITY — A special police team stormed a room at a beach resort early yesterday, killing three suspected kidnappers and rescuing a pair of young brothers who were abducted two days earlier, police said.

A fourth suspect, Wilfredo Pranes, was arrested, police said.

Police said the gang flagged down at gunpoint a car driven by Esmeraldo Burgos, branch manager of Insular Bank here who had just picked up his sons Kevin, 9, and Stephen, 6, from school last Wednesday in this city.

They seized the car, left Burgos by a roadside and ordered him to pay P2 million in ransom.

Police later found the car at the Reyes Beach Resort in Santo Domingo town, some 13 kilometers from this city, cordoned off the resort and tried to negotiate the boys’ release, said Hermogenes Ebdane, chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

At about 8:30 a.m. yesterday, members of the task force – disguised as civilians bringing food for the kidnappers and their victims – stormed a room in the resort, killing three of the suspects. The assault took only five minutes.

Two of the slain suspects were identified as Rogelio Lopera, 40, a former councilor of Manito, Albay; and Aurelio Borras. The third suspect was still unidentified as of press time.

Two police officers were wounded in a brief gunfight, but the children were unharmed, Ebdane said. Police recovered two caliber .38 pistols and a fragmentation grenade from the room.

The assault ended more than 24 hours of negotiations, which also involved Legazpi Bishop Jose Sorra.

Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal, Albay police director, said the kidnappers, through Sorra, pressed for an armored vehicle for their getaway and the P2-million ransom which they found "non-negotiable."

Sorra quoted the kidnappers as telling him that they pulled off the crime "because they hate the rich."

"Siguro mahalaga ring malaman ng mga kinauukulan ang mga ganitong hinaing na nanggagaling na mismo sa mga gumagawa ng ganitong klaseng krimen (Perhaps, it is important that authorities be aware of these grievances from the very people who commit these crimes)," the bishop said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo praised the rescue operation in a speech to leaders of the Philippine National Police yesterday. — Cet Dematera