Uratex owner pays P50 M for daughter

Are certain groups staging ransom kidnappings to destabilize the administration?

Investigators are pursuing this lead as the daughter of Uratex owner Robert Cheng was released before dawn yesterday reportedly after he paid about P50 million in ransom.

Cheng was said to have suffered a heart attack after raising the ransom for the release of his daughter Mary Grace Cheng-Regasa, who was kidnapped with her two bodyguards on Monday by a group of armed men inside the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City.

At Malacañang, President Arroyo said the kidnapping appeared to be a ruse hatched by her political enemies to destabilize her administration.

The kidnapping "could be part of a sinister plot to destabilize my government," the President said, adding she has received "very disturbing" reports about the identity of the Regasa kidnappers.

"It appears that they were not after ransom, they just wanted to create the impression that kidnapping is widespread in Manila," she said.

"I am ordering the Philippine National Police to go after the leader of this (group) and intensify the campaign against kidnapping," Mrs. Arroyo said, adding that a certain "political entity" was believed to be involved in Regasa’s abduction.

Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Jaraza, chief of the Central Police District (CPD)’s central investigation unit, said Regasa and her two bodyguards were released unhurt and are now resting in an undisclosed location in Quezon City while police conduct a manhunt for the suspects.

"The family of the victims really don’t want to talk about the incident anymore. They are just thankful that Mary Grace is okay," Jaraza told The STAR.

But Jaraza said Mary Grace’s father is now being treated at the St. Luke’s Hospital on E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City.

Regasa was with her bodyguards Dionisio Morca and Val Torres in a maroon Mercedes Benz with license plates TMP-898 when they were accosted by four men in police uniforms in front of Malcolm Hall of the UP College of Law at 7:35 a.m. Monday.

Witnesses said the perpetrators were armed with M-16 rifles and were on board a white Mitsubishi Adventure van and a blue Toyota Corolla, Jaraza said.

Witnesses had told police they thought the incident was a police operation since four of the perpetrators were in police uniforms and the incident occurred in broad daylight.

Interior Secretary Jose Lina echoed the President’s statement that the Regasa kidnapping was part of a destabilization plot against her administration and said police are now looking into suspicious angles of the case.

"There are a lot of questions that have to be answered in relation to this kidnapping incident. It is unfortunate that there are destabilizers out there who want to see our government embarrassed," Lina said.

Meanwhile, the UP campus security chief blamed the alleged kidnapping incident on the lack of enough security inside the 494-hectare state university campus.

"Without the support of the present UP administration, peace efforts of the campus police will not succeed. At present, we only have 57 uniformed personnel and one patrol car to monitor the peace and order in the UP compound," said UP security chief Edwardo Bentain.

Under a memorandum of agreement, campus peace and order is the responsibility of the UP-Diliman security unit since uniformed policemen are discouraged from entering the campus.