Congressman’s 2 children snatched

Traffic slowed to a halt and a neighborhood was terrorized as gunmen shot up houses and the tires of a van during the morning rush hour yesterday in San Juan.

As the smoke cleared, the gunmen dragged two wailing children from the van to a getaway vehicle and fled.

The young victims, Julio Carlos Tomas, 5, and his sister Cristina, 10 — children of Negros Occidental Rep. Julio "Jules" Ledesma and his late wife Marivi — were snatched while they were on their way to their respective exclusive schools in San Juan.

The kidnappers reportedly demanded P50 million ransom for the children, but this has not been confirmed by either the Ledesma family or the police.

"What we have now is that the kidnappers have already relayed their demand ... that’s all," a source said.

The abduction dealt a serious blow to President Arroyo’s all-out anti-crime campaign. She had earlier given the Philippine National Police (PNP) hierarchy a deadline to stamp out criminality within one year, under pain of being booted out.

The kidnapping drew condemnation from the President and Ledesma’s colleagues in the House of Representatives.

Ledesma, well known for being the fiancé of sexy Filipino-Italian actress Assunta de Rossi, was not with the children when they were kidnapped.

At least four heavily armed men in two vans intercepted the victims’ Mark III Ford van on A. Mabini and Burgos streets in Barangay Addition Hills, San Juan at about 7:30 a.m.

"This is a live story. It’s ongoing and we just wish that the children of Representative Ledesma are safe and that they will be recovered safely," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye told reporters at Malacañang.

"Let’s leave it at that for the time-being."

Police said two vehicles, a maroon Isuzu Hilander with license plates WDC 549 and a Starex van, blocked the children’s van and armed men came out and fired at the van’s tires to deflate them.

The attackers also shot at nearby homes to prevent local residents from coming out to help the children.

The children were then bundled into one of the kidnappers’ vehicles, leaving the children’s driver and nanny behind.

The young Julio Carlos Tomas is a kindergarten pupil at the Xavier School while Christina is a Grade 4 student at the Immaculate Concepcion Academy, both in San Juan.

The Ledesma’s family driver, Randy Barcelona, 28, was reportedly wounded by glass shards from a smashed windshield of the Ford van, while the children’s nanny, Jennyln Tesado, 25, was unhurt.

Barcelona and Tesado were temporarily held by the police for tactical interrogation.

The driver, who has been with the Ledesmas for about one month only, told the police that the gunmen accosted him and at gunpoint, asked for the ignition key.

When he refused to budge, the attackers fired at the tires and smashed the windshield on the driver’s side with the butt of an Armalite rifle.

"Nang marinig ko and sunod-sunod na putok, saka ko na-realize na masama ang pakay nila, kaya’t sumigaw ako sa dalawang bata at sa katulong na dumapa (When I heard the gunshots, I realized they were up to something bad so I shouted to the children and the nanny to lie face down)," Barcelona narrated.

With a gun still pointed at his face, Barcelona said he reluctantly surrendered the ignition key to one of the kidnappers.

Tesado told police the gunmen ordered her out of the van. She said she hid behind the vehicle as the suspects gathered the children and transferred them to the Starex van.

Tesado said she later dashed through an open gate and sought refuge inside the house.

Initial police investigation showed that the kidnappers’ Hilander fled toward Wilson street while the Starex drove down Burgos street.

Subsequent verification also showed that license plate WDC 549 belonged to a 1998 model, four-door Nissan Sentra owned by a certain Antonio Daza of 47 18th Avenue Murphy, Quezon City, indicating it was stolen and used by the kidnappers to mislead the investigators.

Barcelona and Tesado later reported the abduction to Ledesma who was then still in his suite at Alexandra Condominium on 29 Meralco Avenue in Pasig City.

Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento said police probers recovered some empty bullet shells at the scene of the crime.

While appealing for sobriety and objectivity in reporting the incident, San Juan police director Superintendent Rodrigo de Gracia said their main concern for the moment is the children’s safety.

San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito noted that the abduction appeared to be well-planned and carried out with precision.

The spot where the Ledesmas were snatched was just a few meters away from the site where a daughter of noted dermatologist Dr. Vinzons Pineda, Maria Angela, 14, was also seized by armed men last Nov. 12. She was released unharmed after her parents allegedly paid P11 million ransom.

Police said the congressman refused to coordinate with the police investigators regarding the kidnapping of his children.

Ledesma scheduled a press conference only to call it off at the last minute.

Police have set up dragnets against the suspects in undisclosed places in the metropolis.

Solons condemn abduction

Fellow congressmen expressed sympathy with Ledesma even as they deplored the abduction of his children.

Deputy Speaker Gerry Salapuddin said the kidnapping means "it is safer to live in the countryside than in Metro Manila."

He urged the police to do everything in their capacity to solve the case as soon as possible."

Bulacan Rep. Willie Villarama said the incident indicated that kidnapping persisted despite the police’s claims of success against criminality.

On the other hand, opposition Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Teresa Aquino-Oreta observed that kidnapping for ransom seemed to be unaffected by the PNP’s intensified drive against criminality.

Biazon pointed out that the kidnappers were getting bolder as their latest victims were children of a legislator.

Oreta viewed the abduction as a "slap on the face of the Arroyo administration which recently boasted of significant inroads in the campaign against kidnap-for-ransom gangs."

"The President’s nasty practice of parading crime suspects as a scare tactic against criminals appears to have no effect on kidnap-for-ransom groups which continue to prey on wealthy victims despite the law enforcers’ boast of wiping them out in six months time," Oreta said.

She said Malacañang’s "tough words" against kidnappers were "nothing more than empty rhetoric to these lawbreakers."

"This kidnapping of Ledesma’s two kids only goes to show that criminals continue to defy the law oblivious of the Arroyo administration’s high-profile campaign," she added. — With Jaime Laude, Sammy Santos, Jess Diaz