Senior citizens becoming kidnappers' 'soft targets,' says rescued businessman

ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines  – An elderly Swiss-born Filipino who was rescued early this week after 71 days in captivity expressed concern that helpless senior citizens are now becoming the “soft targets” of kidnappers, as a 60-year-old fish cage operator was seized last Thursday.

Businessman Charlie Rieth, 71, who emerged Friday to attend a thanksgiving Mass three days after his rescue, said he was saddened that his close friend and former neighbor Vicente “Teng” Barrios is now in the hands of kidnappers.

Barrios was snatched by five suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front between the islands of Pitas and Bisaya-Bisaya off the coastal village of Bolong east of this city. He was on board a pumpboat together with a companion, who managed to jump into the water and flee.

Rieth said he and Barrios used to be neighbors on Madrid Street in this city’s downtown area.

“I was surprised that it was his turn now after me, neighbor to neighbor. But what can you do?” he said.

Rieth expressed alarm that the situation has become “critical” as kidnappers from the north and south have come to this city to prey on mostly senior citizens.

“So we have to be careful. Looks like to me (that) senior citizens are the soft targets now of the kidnappers,” he said.

“You know, we have to take a stand sometimes. You know, we have to lead the people out of complacency so that we can fight this thing openly and frontally,” Rieth said when asked if he was not afraid to come out in the open.

After the Mass last Friday, Rieth graced a party to celebrate his freedom prepared by a group of friends dubbed the Barangay Hanazono Boys, named after a Japanese restaurant where Rieth sits as chairman.

Rieth’s close friends led by second district Rep. Erbie Fabian welcomed him like a long-lost brother.

During the get-together, Rieth, a beer drinker, finally got to taste his first bottle of beer after his rescue. “My first beer and it tastes good,” he said.

Rieth recounted to his friends that he never got to taste a bottle of beer during his ordeal as his kidnappers moved him from one place to another to elude the authorities, ending up in the “Virgin Beach,” believed to be in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

“I never thought I will survive,” he said, adding that he did not notice during his 71-day captivity any police or military forces on a mission to rescue him.

“I remember the kidnappers telling me I will be released and it caused me apprehensions because of what could happen in between,” he added.