POLICE operatives rescued a 14-year-old Chinese student in Paranaque City last Tuesday night, five days after he was kidnapped by a Chinese-led group in Taguig City.
Police said the kidnapping was linked to the operation of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators that President Marcos Jr. banned in July last year.
Interior Secretary Juan Victor “Jonvic” Remulla yesterday said the President ordered operations intensified to neutralize kidnapping syndicates in the country, including those behind the abduction of the Chinese student.
Remulla said the syndicate involved in the kidnapping was previously connected with POGO operations in the country.
He said some AWOL (absent without official leave) police and military members who had served as bodyguards for the syndicate’s key figures were also involved.
AKG Director Col. Elmer Ragay said the suspects are Chinese who have Filipino cohorts. He said the group was involved in previous kidnappings in Metro Manila and Angeles City, Pampanga.
“We have a continuing follow-up operation. We do have (the) identities (of the suspects) that we are tracking as of now. We know them and we are going after them,” said Ragay.
“We know the members (of the group), we have (the identities) of the suspects. We know where they are residing, their hideout, their safe house. So, expect that in the next few days, we will intensify our drive to get all of them,” said Remulla, adding the victim was rescued during a hot pursuit operation.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Randul Tuaño said the boy, whose right little finger was cut by his captors, is the son of a Chinese previously involved in the POGO business.
Tuaño, citing information from the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group, said the boy’s father had an unspecified amount of debt with other Chinese also involved in POGO operations.
“The angle that we are looking into is this was Chinese versus Chinese. They (the victim’s family) have an unsettled debt (with the Chinese suspects); that’s the lead we’re following,” said Tuaño.
In a press briefing at Malacanang, Remulla said the victim, a student at a “prestigious international school” in Taguig, and the family driver were snatched last Thursday afternoon shortly after the student went out of the school.
Their vehicle, a Ford Everest sports utility vehicle, was later found abandoned on the northbound lane of C-5.
The victim’s family reported the incident to authorities the following day, said Remulla. On the same day, the body of the driver was found inside another car in San Rafael, Bulacan.
Remulla said the suspects demanded $20 million in ransom, which was later lowered to $1 million.
The suspects sent a video to the victim’s family last Saturday showing the little finger on his right hand being cut, said Remulla.
The following day, Remulla said the suspects sent another video showing the boy singing the favorite song of his younger sibling.
Last Tuesday afternoon, Remulla said operatives of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) were able to track the whereabouts of the suspects and the victim through the cellphone of one of the suspects.
“At approximately 8 p.m., they (AKG operatives) were a few hundred meters away from the cell phone. A few minutes later, during the pursuit in Paranaque, they found a boy in pajamas standing in the middle of the road with a bandaged hand,” he said.
Remulla said AKG operatives were pursuing the suspects on board a vehicle.
“The choice was pursuing the vehicle or securing the child. Obviously, the AKG prioritized the child,” said Remulla, adding the boy was brought to a hospital and has been reunited with his family.
“Let me make another point clear, a ransom demand went from $20 million dollars to $1 million dollars, to no ransom being paid by the family,” said Remulla.
He said they are certain the people behind the kidnapping are former POGO operators who are Chinese.
“We are definite that the perpetrators used their former bodyguards, who are AWOL (absent without official leave) from the service, AFP and PNP. They are AWOL so they are no longer in the service,” said Remulla.
Remulla assured the public that the suspects will be “neutralized at the soonest possible time.”
“We will make sure that this kind of crime will not pay and we will make sure that justice will be given to the victim,” said Remulla.
The PNP has said it has recorded 40 POGO-related kidnappings from January 2024 to February this year.
Remulla said eight kidnapping incidents have occurred this year, with five of them having been solved. The three other cases are still the subject of ongoing investigations.
“This (operation last Tuesday) puts an end to the (kidnapping) chapter on the child. He is safe, secure, and relatively healthy. But this does not end with the retrieval and the rescue of the victim,” said Remulla, adding: “The operations will continue, we will not stop until we get all those responsible.”
911 EMERGENCY SYSTEM
Remulla said part of the government’s efforts to address criminality is the implementation of the 911 emergency system which would be opened to bidding on April 1.
He said they aim to start the implementation of the 911 system by June in the Greater Manila Area and Metro Cebu and the rest of the country within the year.
He said another measure is to put up more closed-circuit television (CCTV) across urban areas.
“So, this I expect will decrease crime rate even more and also adding several more thousand CCTVs across the major urban areas to solve crime,” Remulla said.
The President said Metro Manila would soon be “connected to a single, efficient system using fiber optic networks” that would enable faster and synchronized delivery of aid during emergencies.
“With this project, traffic lights can be adjusted more quickly for a smoother flow of traffic, real-time flood monitoring using interconnected CCTVs and help can arrive more immediately in times of disaster due to more effective coordination of all LGUs. This is what digitization is all about,” Marcos said.
Under the Metro Manila Smart City Infrastructure for Network Resilience project, local government units in Metro Manila would be connected with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ensure a more efficient and faster response to accidents, traffic management, and real-time flood level monitoring.
