Rolando German Cruz alias Esting, said to be a member of the Aguirre Group, led by a certain Danny Aguirre, with three others, was charged with kidnapping before the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
The Bulacan police arrested Cruz last May 30 in the vicinity of the Manila Domestic Airport. He was incarcerated at the Bulacan Provincial Jail, but was ordered released from prison last Sept. 20 after the complainants backed out of the case, reports gathered by The STAR said.
Last Oct. 5, at about 11:30 p.m., patrolling barangay watchmen reported that at least seven heavily armed suspects abducted three unidentified men at the corner of Que Grande and Darlucio streets in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City.
The barangay tanods said that the victims, on board a white Toyota Revo, were snatched by the suspects who were armed with three M2O3 Armalite rifles with grenade launchers, on board two black Nissan Sentras.
The kidnappers, they said, escaped towards Barangay Bagbaguin in Caloocan City near the boundary of Bulacan where they reportedly tried to follow the suspects in their barangay patrol vehicle.
When the tanods were about to catch up with the suspects, the armed men stopped and ordered them to get down from their vehicle and lie down on the pavement.
The barangay tanods failed to jot down either of the victims’ or the suspects’ vehicles’ license plate numbers.
But one of them, through the police rogues gallery, pointed to the picture of Cruz, saying that it "closely resembles" one of the abductors.
Cruz’s group, police said, is responsible for a number of kidnapping cases in Bulacan.
The Valenzuela City police, more than a week after the abduction, are still facing a blank wall as to the victims’ identities as none of their kin has reported the incident to the authorities.