DOJ files kidnap raps vs seven BI employees

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges of kidnapping for ransom and serious illegal detention against seven employees of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), four of them permanent agents, for allegedly abducting two Taiwanese brothers outside a casino at the Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales last June 5.

Senior state prosecutor Pablo Formaran III said no bail was recommended for detained BI agents Amando Talatala and Arsenio Cantaneda, utility worker Mario Mejico, and confidential assets Robespierre Caparas and Linda Ong.

The two other suspects, agents Nasser Hadjiwahid and Andman Mangondato, remain at large.

Formaran said there is probable cause to show that the seven BI employees conspired to kidnap and detain Taiwanese businessman Chen Rong Yun and his brother, tourist Chen Yung Yuan, against their will.

The case was filed with the Manila court last Friday afternoon.

Records show that at about 8:30 p.m. of June 5, the Chen brothers were standing in front of the Legenda Casino Filipino when seven armed men accosted and forced them into their vehicles.

The armed men reportedly took their cash, each amounting to P6,000, and brought them to Intramuros, Manila.

At about 11 p.m., the Chens called up a friend, Chuang Tseng Mu, and his wife, Yolma, informing them that they were abducted and that the kidnappers were demanding $30,000 as ransom.

But the Chuangs haggled, saying they only had P200,000. During the negotiations, Yolma said she overheard one of the men threaten to kill Chen Rong Yun.

The Chuangs immediately left their condominium in Parañaque City and proceeded to the office of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) which, in turn, laid out an entrapment operation.

The kidnappers eventually agreed to the payoff at a fast food outlet in Intramuros at about 6 a.m. the following day, June 6.

Yolma, accompanied by PO2 Arlyn Tolentino who pretended to be Chen Rong Yun’s daughter, went to the payoff site.

When they saw Chen Rong Yun inside a black Honda Civic, Tolentino gave the signal to her fellow PACER agents, and five of the seven suspects were apprehended.

Upon learning about the arrest, Hadjiwahid and Mangondato, who were on board a Chevrolet Optra, dropped Chen Yung Yuan at the Victory Liner station in Pasay City and fled.

But the suspects denied the allegations, claiming they had a mission order.

The BI reportedly received a faxed letter dated Jan. 19, 2005 from Frank Fu, senior assistant of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, requesting the arrest and deportation of Chen Rong Yun, allegedly a "financier" of big-time gamblers.

Formaran, however, said their mission order was undated and not numbered, "thereby indicating that it was not yet officially released."

In fact, he said the suspects could not present a certification or confirmation showing that they were, indeed, officially dispatched to carry out the mission order.

He also questioned why the suspects did not immediately turn over the Chens to the BI detention center which is open 24 hours a day.