10 face charges for Zamboanga kidnap

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  – Police have filed kidnapping charges against 10 suspects, including a policemen assigned to an anti-kidnapping task force, for the abduction of a local businessman, authorities said.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said a prominent lawyer, Hassan Go Alam, and two police officers were among those charged before the office of city prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron.

Senior Superintendent Mario Yanga identified the two lawmen as PO1 Marcial Lim and PO2 Aldwin Abdua.

Abdua was detailed with the anti-kidnapping task force working on recovering three public school teachers who were seized last Jan. 23 on Sacol Island off this city and brought to Basilan.

Yanga said Abdua’s name had cropped up in the course of their investigation into the kidnapping of businessman Eliseo Hablo last Jan. 8.

Hablo, a fishing operator and owner of two bakeshops, was rescued on Tuesday during a raid on a three-story house at Southcom village in Barangay Calarian, just across the headquarters of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command.

The 10 suspects were subsequently arrested.

Authorities earlier said Hablo’s kidnappers had demanded P3 million in ransom.

Initial reports tagged the Abu Sayyaf as behind the abduction, but Hablo’s relatives were unconvinced, prompting them to cooperate with the authorities to track down the suspects.

Cabaron, meanwhile, said the suspects have filed a 15-day waiver while probable cause against them is being determined.

The suspects are temporarily detained at the CIDG regional office.