Anti-crime task force gets ultimatum

Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes has ordered the National Anti-Crime Task Force (NACTF) to run after criminal syndicates and put a stop to heinous crimes by year’s end.

Meeting with members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Reyes said the NACTF, which he heads, is spearheading the government’s anti-crime campaign with help from the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces.

"We will go after these crime syndicates and their protectors so the people will feel safe in the streets, in their work places and their homes, especially during the Christmas season," he said.

"The primary objective of NACTF is to show the citizens that there is rule of law, and to tell the criminals that crime does not pay, as NACTF will primarily go after kidnapping syndicates involved in kidnapping, bank robbery and holdup, drugs, smuggling and piracy.

"It will also go after scalawags in the service who are coddling these criminals."

President Arroyo chairs the PAOCC, with Reyes as vice chairman, and Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr., Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and four private sector representatives as members.

Last year, government agents raided the hideout in Dinalupihan, Bataan of Dr. Roberto Obeles Yap, leader of notorious gang leader of kidnappers.

Mrs. Arroyo gave P500,000 to the informant who tipped off the agents on the whereabouts of Reynaldo Cacho, No. 8 in the list of wanted men.

Obeles Yap was killed in a shootout with government agents in Dinalupihan on Nov. 20, 2003, while Cacho was captured in Gandara, Western Samar on Jan. 24 last year.

Obeles Yap was the leader of a gang of kidnappers who preyed on his fellow Chinese-Filipinos via information from his connections within the community.

Cacho was involved in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Rubelyn Chua, daughter of a wealthy businessman from Caloocan City.