Two more kidnap gang leaders arrested by Naktf

Two suspected kidnap gang leaders and an associate have been arrested in a series of police raids in Rizal and Leyte provinces on Thursday and the weekend.

One of those captured was Sergio Macanip, the alleged mastermind of the November 2003 kidnapping and murder of Coca-Cola Export Corp. finance manager Betti Chua Sy.

Retired Gen. Angelo Reyes, head of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTF), said Macanip, 43, was arrested in his hideout in a remote barangay in Leyte last weekend. "We will continue with the momentum in our fight against kidnapping," he said.

One of his alleged henchmen, Gerardo Anover, surrendered to authorities in Leyte shortly after, he added.

Reyes said Romeo Puria, 32, another alleged kidnap gang leader, was arrested by NAKTF agents when they raided his hideout in Rodriguez town in Rizal last Thursday.

"We are winning this fight and we will not stop until these kidnappers pay for the crimes they have committed," he said.

As Reyes presented to President Arroyo the two captured kidnap gang leaders at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City yesterday, the Chief Executive named him to a second high-profile assignment: commander of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Task Force.

"I understand that this is his job, but then there is a clamor that we set up an anti-smuggling (task force) and there is a request from the business community, and they requested for Angie," she said. "In the past, his anti-kidnapping task force has made a success, we are now requested to give this work to Angie Reyes as the head of the anti-smuggling task force."

Last Feb. 15, NAKTF agents captured the country’s eighth most wanted kidnapper during a raid in his hideout in Quezon City.

Teddy Padre, who carries a P500,000 bounty on his head, was arrested in a house along Commonwealth Avenue on the strength of a warrant issued by the Pasay City regional trial court.

An informant who saw Padre’s picture in a NAKTF infomercial on television led agents to his hideout.

Police have accused Padre of being the mastermind behind the abduction of businesswoman Marianne dela Rosa on March 27 last year along A. Bonifacio Street in Biñan, Laguna. Dela Rosa later escaped.

On Jan. 3, police arrested in Jaro, Leyte a seventh suspect in last November’s kidnapping and murder of Chua Sy during a raid in a house in Barangay Macanip.

Franco Artoza alias "Anko," a member of the Waray-Waray Artoza gang, was arrested on the strength of a court-issued warrant of arrest. Police said the 26-year-old Artoza admitted participation in the kidnapping of the 32-year-old Sy in La Loma, Quezon City last Nov. 17, but denied taking part in her murder.

The arrest of Artoza came after police picked up another gangman, Fernando Niegos on New Year’s Day in another house in the same barangay.

Padre was the ninth kidnap gang leader to be arrested or killed by NAKTF agents since December.

Roberto Yap, a medical doctor who headed a gang that preyed mostly on rich Chinese-Filipino families, was killed in late November.

NAKTF agents have also captured Allan Niegas, the fourth most wanted kidnapper, Dec. 4 last year; Vilmore Catamco, No. 5, Dec. 3; Joselim Amuco, No. 7, Dec. 15; Reynaldo Cachi, No. 8, Jan. 24; Joer Abonales, No. 15, Jan. 27; Ronnie Tan, No. 12, Feb. 8, and Arnel Suellen, No. 17, who was arrested last Feb. 12. — Marichu Villanueva, AFP