16 face kidnap charges in Pineda abduction case

Police filed yesterday kidnapping-for-ransom charges against 16 persons who allegedly abducted the 14-year-old daughter of dermatologist Dr. Vinson Pineda in Mandaluyong City last Nov. 12.

The suspects released the victim, Ma. Angela Pineda after her family paid an P11 million ransom, which was given in two installments, sources said.

Charged in the Mandaluyong City Prosecutor’s Office were Diosdado Santos, Ronnie Tan, Joseph Mostrales, a certain John-John, a Kumander Agila, a Kumander Kidlat and 10 other John Does. All of the suspects remain at large.

During the preliminary hearing of the case, Assistant City Prosecutor Rodil Zalamea claimed "there is a reasonable ground to believe that the crime had been committed and the accused (are) probably guilty thereof."

The suspects were identified by the Pineda’s family driver, househelp and other witnesses through the rogue’s gallery kept by the office of Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., head of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF) in Camp Crame of pictures of kidnappers and other lawless elements.

Ma. Angela and her three schoolmates were on their way to the Tabernacle of Christian Faith Academy in San Juan when their Starex van with plate number WEA 986 was blocked by the suspects’ red Toyota Revo along Calderon St., at about 6:50 a.m. last Nov. 12.

The suspects, according to the NAKTAF, brought Ma. Angela to a safehouse while Kumander Kidlat negotiated her ransom with her father, Dr. Pineda.

An information sheet signed by Superintendent Isagani Nerez, NAKTAF’s legal officer, claimed that the kidnappers contacted Dr. Pineda hours after the abduction and demanded a "huge" amount of money.

The amount was later reduced to P8 million which was delivered last Nov. 17 by Ma. Angela’s mother, Ma. Aurora, 52, to Kumander Kidlat along C-5 in Taguig. Despite the delivery of the ransom money, however, the kidnappers failed to release Ma. Angela and continued pestering her father for more money.

Last Dec. 8, a certain Ana Navarra, 42, a special nurse of the victim, delivered another P3 million to Kumander Kidlat, a few meters away from where the first ransom was paid in C-5 Road. Ma. Angela was released after 23 days in captivity. She was still in state of emotional instability when NAKTAF debriefed her after her release last Dec. 10. – Non Alquitran