Cops rescue 2 kidnap victims; 3 suspects fall

Two Quezon City-based businesswomen were rescued before dawn Thursday by the police after being held for a week by kidnappers in a hotel in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Police said Hasmin Bonglarawan and Mona Panamay, both of Novaliches, have been reunited with their respective families and that the entrapment operation in front of a popular fastfood chain in Dau netted three suspects.

Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director, said Jefferey Paderon, 24, of Balonbato, Quezon City; driver Ric Reyes Siapo, 36, of Concepcion, Tarlac; and Cristy Gozum, 18, of Dau, Mabalacat, were arrested during the payoff of P2 million in ransom in front of the Jollibee Dau branch.

A Toyota Corolla with license plates UTK-520, a 12-gauge shotgun, one caliber .22 magnum revolver, a Philippine National Police Community Network identification card, two cell phones and a roll of aluminum foil were seized from the suspects.

Both victims and suspects again came face to face at a Camp Crame press conference yesterday, which nearly turned into a brawl as the two Muslim women attacked their abductors in front of PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza.

Gualberto said Bonglarawan and Panamay were waylaid by the two male suspects on the evening of August 5 in Mabalacat town while on their way to a birthday party on the invitation of celebrator Gozum.

The businesswomen were later held inside a guarded room at the Sunset Hotel, also in Dau, for three days.

Police said Gozum called the relatives of their captives by cellphone to relay the P2-million ransom demand. Last Wednesday, Bonglarawan was allowed to leave to facilitate the transaction, with the threat that Panamay would be killed if she failed to deliver.

But instead of proceeding home, Bonglarawan sought the assistance of police which in turn devised the entrapment operation.

With money on hand and under police supervision, Bonglarawan, on instructions of the suspects, delivered the ransom to the Jollibee Dau branch along the national highway in Mabalacat at 2 a.m. Thursday.

The suspects were waiting there as expected, and police jumped on them as soon as the money was handed over and Panamay was released.

The suspects are currently detained at the CIDG in Dau for investigation while appropriate charges have been filed in court by police authorities. –Jaime Laude, Ric Sapnu