3 kidnappers fall in C. Luzon

A Tarlac club owner, her live-in partner and a truck driver have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping for ransom of a businesswoman in Angeles City, Pampanga last Jan. 31.

The three suspects were identified as Luz Patinga-Gonzales, 52, who owns a club in Capas, Tarlac; Rustico Pamintuan, 28, her live-in partner; and Julian Panes, 49, a truck driver from Malabon, Metro Manila.

They were tagged in the abduction of Angelita Yang Cezar, who owns a poultry farm in Angeles City.

Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., chief of the National Anti-Crime Commission’s Anti-Kidnapping for Ransom Task Force (NAKTAF), said the three suspects were arrested in joint operations with the Angeles and Capas police.

Cezar, according to Ebdane, has positively identified them as members of the group which abducted and then freed her the following day after her family paid a ransom of P800,000.

Cezar was snatched from her poultry farm by ski mask-wearing men who also robbed her of P60,000 in cash. They fled aboard a white Canter closed van, which the poultry farm used for delivery. The van was recovered along MacArthur Highway in Capas on Feb. 2.

Ebdane said police are going after other members of the kidnap-for-ransom syndicate.

"We encourage the community to work with us. This case highlights the positive results we get when the family of the victim and the community cooperate," he said.

Ebdane said his task force has so far monitored seven kidnap-for-ransom cases in Metro Manila and nearby provinces this year.

He, however, said this should not alarm the public, noting that only three of the seven cases can be considered "sensational."

For his part, Chief Superintendent Crescencio Maralit, spokesman of the Philippine National Police, denied reports about a supposed rash of kidnappings in Metro Manila.

Maralit said the reported abductions of a young woman and a student of Adamson University in Makati and Manila, respectively, turned out to be false.