2 kidnap victims rescued

Police rescued in Sariaya, Quezon on Friday a businesswoman and her secretary who were abducted in Bicol three weeks ago by a newly formed kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Acting Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Deputy Director General Leandro Mendoza said Fe Cosay Chua and her secretary Susan Cadano were rescued uharmed in Barangay Hanagdon, a mountain village in Sariaya. Police also recovered P325,000 in cash which formed part of the initial ransom paid by the victims’ relatives.

Agents of the PNP and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) conducted the raid on the kidnappers’ lair and arrested three suspected gang members.

Police identified the suspects as Santos Gabanda Remuna, alias Sansi, of Bula, Camarines Sur; Cesar Ramos, also of Camarines Sur; and Homer Rasado of Legaspi City in Albay.

Police also recovered from the group a dirty-white Toyota Revo with license plates WMW-910, which was allegedly used by the kidnappers in abducting the victims on Jan. 30.

According to Mendoza, the suspects snatched Cadano and Chua together with Chua’s sister Salvacion Cosay Tan along the national highway in Pili, Camarines Sur while they were on their way to Naga City.

The kidnappers initially demanded ransom of P40 million for the freedom of the three suspects, Mendoza said.

Tan was released in Alabang, Muntinlupa last week after her family raised some P4.86 million and asked the suspects to lower the ransom demand but the suspects allegedly raised the ransom to P60 million, forcing them to seek police assistance.

Through information elicited from Tan, police established the identities of the suspects and pinpointed their safehouse in Barangay Hanagdon in Sariaya.

"Tan’s subsequent information pointed to the whereabouts of her colleagues which resulted in the successful raid," said PAOCTF chief Deputy Director Hermogenes Ebdane.

On Friday night, police mounted rescue operations and arrested the suspects, who did not fight back. They found Tan and Cadano with their hands and feet chained.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina said the rescue of the victims was a "breakthrough" in the government’s efforts against criminality.

"The keys to this successful rescue operations was the cooperation and trust given by the victim’s family to the PNP organization who worked on the case like one big family," Lina said at a press conference held at Camp Crame to present the suspects.

Meanwhile, Ebdane also presented one of the suspected abductors of slain Greek shipping executive Felippo Orfanos, whose body was found dumped in a ditch along a road in Barangay Maybakal in Morong, Rizal last Friday.

Orfanos, 62, a port captain of a Manila-based Greek shipping line, was abducted on Jan. 15 at United Nations Avenue and Jorge Bocobo street in Ermita, Manila.

Ebdane identified the suspect as Abdul Macaumbang, whom several witnesses identified as one of Orfano’s abductors. He was arrested in Maharlika Village in Taguig.