3 soldiers implicated in Butuan kidnapping

BUTUAN CITY — Three Army soldiers and a rebel returnee are in hot water for the kidnapping of a female teacher who was rescued at a police checkpoint here last Tuesday afternoon.

Being investigated are former communist guerrilla Julieto Andil, Pfc. Alexander Lofranco, of the Army’s 30th Infantry Brigade, and Pfcs. Elvie Plana and Emelio Cena, both of the 58th IB based in Tago, Surigao del Sur.

The kidnapping victim, Catalina Culaste, 44, was crying and in a state of shock when policemen, alerted about the abduction, found her inside the Kia Besta van being driven by Plana.

Culaste told police two armed men forced her to board the van while she was walking at the corner of P. Burgos and E. Luna streets here last Tuesday afternoon.

Police said they got a call via the police emergency hotline (117) about the kidnapping and they promptly alerted those manning checkpoints across the city. The van was eventually flagged down in Barangay Bit-os.

Three caliber .45 pistols and ammunition were seized from the three soldiers.

During investigation, Maj. Nilo Amador, deputy commanding officer of the Army’s 30th IB, admitted that he owns the Kia Besta van although it is registered under the name of Elma Bailey. Amador’s daughter is married to Lofranco.

Amador and the three soldiers denied any involvement in the kidnapping, saying Andil and one John Torralba merely rented the van and hired them for P2,000 for a trip to Buenavista, Agusan del Norte.

Andil told police probers that a businessman hired them to kidnap Rudy Buyan, said to be Culaste’s boyfriend who, they were told, owed the trader P400,000. Not finding Buyan, they instead snatched her.