Bank exec’s daughter rescued from captors

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Army troopers rescued the kidnapped 21-year-old daughter of a bank manager here, in a remote village in Sarangani yesterday afternoon, a military spokesman said.

Maj. Gen. Sam Deles, spokesman of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said elements of the 75th Infantry Battalion successfully pulled off the rescue of Janice Glenda Sinda in the hinterlands of Malapitan town at about 1:15 p.m.

Deles said Sinda, a senior of the Philippine Women’s College in Davao City, was reunited with her family here last night.

Reports said she was happy but weak and her feet had blisters. After her rescue, she was taken to a military hospital for treatment.

Seven men armed with handguns barged into the Sindas’ home at Gensanville Subdivision on the night of March 3 and snatched Janice Glenda and her father, Lowell, manager of Consumer Savings Bank.

The kidnappers later freed the elder Sinda and demanded P500,000 in exchange for his daughter’s release.

Deles said it appears that the kidnapping case was "syndicated," meaning three separate groups snatched father and daughter, kept Janice Glenda in captivity, and negotiated for the ransom.

Deles said probers were still verifying whether these groups had links with the notorious kidnap-for-ransom group of Commander Mayangcang Saguile which operates in Maguindanao.

Saguile’s group was tagged as the mastermind in several abductions in the Socsksargen (South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos) area in the past decade.

Earlier, a source claimed that Janice Glenda was turned over by her kidnappers to Saguile’s group which, in turn, reportedly increased the ransom demand to P5 million.

Dax Sinda, the victim’s elder brother, told The STAR earlier that his sister’s kidnappers were no longer in the Socsksargen area.

Meanwhile, police units here were ordered to look into the possible involvement of certain politicians in criminal activities.

The directive, sent by Camp Crame via radio, noted that groups have reportedly been activated in the Socsksargen area to raise campaign funds for some politicians through kidnapping, extortion, robbery and other criminal acts.

The order, however, did not cite specific details.

Superintendent Conrado Laza, the city’s police chief, vowed to look in the matter but said they have not received any intelligence information on the involvement of politicians here in criminal activities.

"As far as the city police are concerned, there are no politicians involved or linked in any way to any criminal activity (here)," Laza said.

In the past two weeks, two kidnappings, a robbery-holdup and a number of car thefts have been reported here.

Last March 7, four days after the Sinda kidnapping, the eight-year-old daughter of a Metrobank employee was abducted but was rescued on the same day by police operatives.