Fil-Am trader fights off abductors; 3 aides seized

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Suspected members of the notorious Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang seized three bodyguards after their intended victim, a Filipino-American businessman who used to work for the US navy, shot it out with them in Sultan Kudarat the other day, authorities said.

Brig. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, commander of the Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade, said 10 suspected Pentagon members tried to abduct businessman Michael Escanlar from his gamecock farm in Barangay Kalawag in the capital town of Isulan.

Dema-ala said the kidnappers disarmed Escanlar’s bodyguards Hernani Panes, Rey Canlas and Datu Galvez when they barged into the gamecock farm.

Escanlar, he said, must have noticed the commotion and engaged the intruders in a firefight, forcing them to flee with his three bodyguards, one of whom is said to be his relative.

The kidnappers and their hostages then fled aboard a jeep and Escanlar’s gray Mitsubishi car with license plate PNM 632, Dema-ala said.

Escanlar is known in his community as a wealthy man, who became richer when he reportedly won a $5-million US lottery jackpot while he was still in the US navy a few years ago.

Dema-ala said police and Army investigators are still trying to determine if Escanlar is a US citizen.

"He had long been warned that he was a potential kidnapping target. That’s the reason why he always has bodyguards when he goes to his farm and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the kidnappers managed to disarm them right away when they tried to abduct him," he said.

Investigators said the kidnappers, disguised as commuters, arrived at about 4:30 p.m. Friday at the gate of Escanlar’s gamecock farm on board a passenger jeep and, at gunpoint, immediately disarmed Panes, Canlas and Galvez.

The kidnappers, after realizing they could not get Escanlar alive, instead took his three bodyguards and immediately fled aboard the businessman’s car, Dema-ala said.

It was the second kidnapping attempt in Sultan Kudarat this month. Last Sept. 1, Pentagon members tried to abduct rice trader Roberto Ang in Tacurong City.

Ang escaped but five people, including two policemen, were killed as the gunmen fled the scene. Six others, including Ang himself, were wounded in the botched abduction.

Last Wednesday, Dema-ala and his men swooped down on a hideout of the Pentagon in S.K. Pendatun, Maguindanao, resulting in the death of a certain Saban and the recovery of assault rifles, fragmentation grenades and B-40 anti-tank rockets in the gang’s safehouse.

Dema-ala said the raid was prompted by information from Muslim religious leaders on the presence of an armed band in Barangay Lumabao in S.K. Pendatun town.

He said the Pentagon members, led by Saidali Mamalangkay, alias Commander Vanguard, opened fire first on the approaching soldiers, provoking a firefight that waned only after they ran out of ammunition.

The gang members retreated toward the Liguasan Marsh, dragging at least four wounded companions.

Local leaders said Mamalangkay is a relative of Kagui Bayan, a brigade commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front whose followers are scattered at the boundary of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao.

Dema-ala said his intelligence operatives are convinced that Mamalangkay’s group was involved in the failed abduction of Ang.

Combatants of the Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade were still tracking down, as of press time, the captors of Escanlar’s bodyguards at the Maguindanao-Sultan Kudarat border.

The Pentagon gang consists of former Moro separatist rebels who have turned to crime.

Many military officials believe that Moro guerrillas are still protecting the group despite seeking peace talks with the government.

President Arroyo has ordered the police to step up the campaign against kidnappings after signs of an apparent resurgence of the crime. — With Roel Pareño and AFP