Tsinoy boy freed; Kuratong gang eyed

Remnants of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang and Waray-Waray group were behind the bloody kidnapping of an 11-year-old Chinese-Filipino student in Tondo, Manila, a ranking police official disclosed yesterday.

The police official revealed that P1.9 million in ransom was paid by the family of the victim, a few days after the kidnapping.

The student was later freed unharmed and was found by personnel of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) at the corner of Sgt. Rivera and G. Aquino streets at Grace Village in Masambong, Quezon City early Wednesday.

Although still shaken and disheveled, the victim was pronounced healthy and showed no signs of physical abuse, another police official from the Manila Police Department (MPD) revealed.

Sources also said the kidnappers left the victim unconscious in Grace Village after hitting him with a stun gun.

The victim’s parents, accompanied by PACER operatives, were able to retrieve the boy around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

But the MPD official would not confirm whether ransom was paid for the boy’s release.

"All I can say is that the PACER team is now running after the kidnappers," the official said.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said they are not discounting the possibility of "a big group" behind the kidnapping.

A ranking official from PACER, however, revealed the manhunt is now focused on the remnants of the two crime syndicates which were also tagged for the botched kidnapping of Shirmon Choa, a Chinese-Filipino businessman, in Valenzuela City last July 13.

Choa died from multiple gunshot wounds while his elder brother Sherchuang was wounded but survived the kidnapping attempt.

Police sources identified one of the suspects only as a certain "Balasta" was recently apprehended in Quezon City for robbery. The suspect was tagged by a witness as one of the gunmen in the foiled kidnapping of the Choas in Valenzuela City.

Sources said the descriptions of the Choa witnesses bore similarities to the suspects behind the kidnapping of the 11-year-old boy in Manila.

Five heavily-armed men snatched the victim after wounding six people along Mayhaligue Street in Tondo last Aug. 10.

Two of the kidnappers forcibly dragged the victim from his nanny while one of the suspects fired an AR-15 "Baby Armalite" rifle wounding two responding security guards and four bystanders.

The victim was snatched just after emerging from Rich Town Tower along Mayhaligue Street while on his way to school.

The getaway vehicle, a Toyota Lite Ace, was later found abandoned on a street in Quezon City the following day.

The kidnapping highlighted the claims made by Teresita Ang-See of the Citizens Action Against Crime (CAAC), deploring the rise in kidnapping incidents which she said was largely due to a lack of budgetary support for the PACER.

Ang-See said PACER had nearly met its goal of "zero kidnapping" when the Aug. 10 kidnapping of the 11-year-old boy took place.

Ang-See said the abduction occurred because police have been diverted to contain the street protests spurred by the political opposition calling for the resignation of President Arroyo.

Authorities, on the other hand, are not discounting the possibility of destabilization efforts by some groups to make it appear that the administration is helpless in containing criminality.

"They want to prove that the police are inutile in the handling of the peace and order situation in the country," the ranking MPD official said.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol likewise ordered an investigation of possible security lapses by policemen assigned in the Tondo area.

Querol emphasized the need for additional deployment of police to the Tondo area where a large number of Chinese-Filipino schools are located.

MPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong recently met with civil society groups and community leaders in Manila to assure them that the police are still in control of the peace and order situation despite the abduction. -With Nestor Etolle, Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe