Kidnappers used police uniforms

"They used police uniforms and they called themselves colonels and generals."

This was how two Filipino-Chinese kidnap victims, rescued in a police operation Tuesday night, described how their abductors called each other during their 48 hours in captivity.

Lorna Landicho and her cousin, Elvira Madla, appeared traumatized when presented at a press conference at Camp Crame yesterday by Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza and Director Nestorio Gualberto, chief of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Also presented along with two of the four arrested suspects were three M-16 automatic rifles, two caliber .45 pistols, a shotgun, four sets of vehicle license plates, and a number of camouflaged military and police uniforms.

Madla’s husband, Boac, Marinduque Mayor Roberto Madla, thanked the police, especially Chief Superintendents Jaime Caringal and Jesus Versoza, for the successful rescue.

"With the help of my brothers-in-law, we were able to coordinate with the PNP and have a plan. We thank the PNP leadership, especially generals Caringal and Versoza for this," Roberto Madla said.

Between sobs, Landicho recounted how the kidnappers snatched them last Monday on C-3 road in Navotas at around 2:30 a.m. Landicho and Elvira Madla are both fish brokers at the RBL fishing company in Navotas.

"They were in police uniforms. They flagged us down before boarding our vehicle and had both of us handcuffed," Landicho said.

She said their uniforms were complete with badges and shoulder patches of the National Capital Region Police Office. They were all armed with automatic rifles.

The men then introduced themselves as police officers and told them that they received a tip that the women were carrying shabu and they would be taken to Camp Crame in Quezon City for investigation.

The men commandeered their van. But when they passed by a road heading toward the PNP headquarters, Landicho said she "did not know already where we were heading when we reached Cubao."

"I knew later that we are not on our way to Camp Crame," she said.

A car full of armed men later escorted the van to the gang’s lair.

They were kept in an abandoned apartment in a far-flung barrio in Antipolo City in Rizal province. They were later handcuffed and gagged with masking tape.

After being told they were being kidnapped, one of the suspects told Madla to call her family to demand ransom. After trying two numbers, Madla finally reached her husband. She was careful not to mention that he was a local official.

"They treated us nicely. But they guarded us heavily," Madla said. They were fed and given water every now and then. They were not threatened nor harmed, only asked to cooperate.

Landicho said the suspects apparently tried to make their victims believe that they were police officers, calling each other captain, major, colonel and general.

This prompted Mendoza to order a review of the accreditation permits of shops authorized to sell police uniforms and supplies.

"The modus operandi of these groups is to pose as policemen to their would-be victims. It has been their modus operandi in the other kidnapping activities. With their arrests, the public will be given some peace of mind," Mendoza said.

Mendoza also emphasized the importance of the cooperation of the victims’ families, police teamwork and intelligence-gathering in combating this kind of crime.

Versoza said the four arrested suspects have spilled the beans on the gang’s mastermind, identified as Gerry Villaber, who is now being hunted down.

The four, who acted as negotiators, were arrested at a busy intersection at Masinag, also in Antipolo. Three other suspects were later killed in a gunfight when the police swooped down on the gang’s lair.

The gang is believed to be involved in kidnappings last year. Versoza said they have invited former kidnap victims, Mary Grace Rogasas-Cheng and Mark John Giga, to determine if the suspects were their kidnappers.