‘Superbody’ versus kidnaps to be formed

President Arroyo will create a "superbody" to coordinate and revitalize the government’s drive against kidnap-for-ransom syndicates.

This developed as the Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted that Singaporean businessmen have become a kidnap risk in Manila but their plight has been overshadowed by the focus on Muslim rebels holding 28 Filipino and American hostages in Mindanao.

The President said the superbody she wanted to create will be composed of teams from the justice, interior and national defense departments to ensure that syndicate members are quickly caught and prosecuted.

"We are giving the highest priority to this," she told a televised press conference shortly after attending a Cabinet meeting on the problem. She said an executive order was being readied to create the body to coordinate the government’s anti-kidnapping campaign.

Mrs. Arroyo’s statement was in response to a report that kidnap-for-ransom syndicates are again active in Manila, with Singaporean businessman as their main targets instead of rich Filipino-Chinese, their customary prey.

In the past two months four Singaporeans have been abducted, but details only came to light when businessman Roger Yeo met his armed kidnappers’ ransom demands to end nine days in captivity.

The Singapore Straits Times reported on Tuesday that Yeo’s wife, Yiong Hua Ng, paid 300,000 Singapore dollars (roughly P8.3 million) to Filipino kidnappers to free her husband.

Yeo, 45, was allegedly abducted by a group of armed men from his JSS Integrated Services Inc. office on June 1, the paper said.

He told the paper that he was blindfolded and tied up most of the time during his ordeal, although he was not directly threatened with harm.

His wife received a telephoned ransom demand of one million Singapore dollars at their Singapore home. She went to the police and the foreign ministry, which put her in touch with the Singapore Embassy in Manila.

The PNP said it is coordinating with Singapore Embassy officials on the issue.

"It appears that they (kidnappers) are really targeting businessmen from Singapore," said police Director Thompson Lantion.

Lantion said the willingness of the Singaporean victim to buy his freedom the easy way made other Singaporeans vulnerable to future kidnappings in the country.

Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, chief of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said the police were made to believe by Yeo’s wife that she was providing them "true" information on the progress of negotiations for Yeo’s release.

"We were very close in apprehending the kidnappers, only to find out that they were no longer in their safehouse and the ransom was already paid," he said.

Gualberto added that even the Singaporean Embassy was left in the dark by the victim’s wife, who brought with her a Singaporean police colonel who secretly arranged the ransom payoff with the abductors.

Yeo was freed on Saturday and has since returned to Singapore. He was the fourth Singapore citizen abducted in Manila since April.

On April 26, three Singaporeans were abducted by heavily armed men in the southern part of Metro Manila. They were released the same day after paying P6.25 million in ransom.

Gualberto said the Singaporeans were being targetted because of their willingness to pay ransom and for their non-cooperation with authorities.

Lantion, on the other hand, advised foreigners to be always cautious. "We don’t want to be alarmist here (in saying) that foreign nationals are being targeted particularly," he said. "But we’d like to take precautions. We have a saying here — forewarned is forearmed."

Singaporean Embassy officials in Manila saud they would study the issue and reply later.

Singapore’s foreign ministry said that it had asked Manila to ensure the safety of Singaporeans and advised its nationals to exercise extra care and caution in the country.

Filipino-Chinese businessmen and overseas Chinese are often targeted by kidnappers in the country because they are more willing to pay a ransom than seek police help.

Filipino anti-crime groups have alleged that some rogue police officers are involved in kidnap gangs. — Jaime Laude, Marvin Sy