P20-M ransom sought for trader

Cagayan de Oro City — Kidnappers are demanding a ransom of at least P20 million for a businessman whom they abducted together with his wife here last Monday. The wife was released hours later.

Superintendent Honorio Cervantes, city police chief, said it was a member of the family of captive trader Leonardo Agan who disclosed the ransom demand.

Agan’s wife, Philadelphia, was released in Iligan City hours after the abduction. She, however, was still not cooperating with investigators reportedly because their family was still in shock over the incident.

Four armed men on board a vehicle bumped the car of the Agans in Barangay Bulua here and then seized them.

Meanwhile, in Cotabato City, relatives of kidnapped Chinese-Filipino trader Benny Kotah appealed to his captors to release him without ransom since both his mother and wife are now in intensive care after suffering strokes.

Kotah, a distributor of office supplies and computer accessories, was snatched near his Cotabato City house three weeks ago. — With John Unson