Trader gets 3 life terms for kidnap

A Manila judge sentenced a businessman to three life terms yesterday for the 1993 kidnapping of two nephews of Jaime Dichaves, a close friend of former President Joseph Estrada.

Judge Edelwina Pastoral of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 44 found Ernesto Uybuco, 55, of Dasmariñas Village, Makati City guilty beyond reasonable doubt of kidnapping and holding for ransom Jeson Kevin and Jeson Kirby, now 14 and 12 years old, respectively, and their nanny Nimfa Celiz.

Uybuco’s face showed no emotion as a member of Pastoral’s staff read the verdict.

He was originally charged with Ret. Army Col. Wilfredo Macias, but there was no verdict on the latter who died July 25 this year due to multiple organ failure at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

Uybuco was ordered to pay the victims P150,000 for moral damages.

Pastoral could not impose the death penalty on Uybuco because the crime was committed eight days before capital punishment was reimposed on Jan. 1, 1994.

The judge gave greater weight to the candid, straightforward credible and convincing testimonies of the victims and arresting police officers rather than Uybuco’s version, which was described as "a naked story and an apparent concoction of facts."

"A reading of his testimony revealed a hazy, vague and uncorroborated version of his being an alleged intermediary between Dichaves family and the kidnappers," Pastoral said in her 35-page decision.

Court records showed that the boys and their nanny were on board an Isuzu pick-up truck driven by Pepito Acon when an owner-type jeep blocked their path on Bilibid Viejo near San Sebastian Church in Mendiola, Manila on Dec. 20, 1993.

One of the men in the jeep then accused Acon of running over a stone that hit a son of a member of the Presidential Security Group. The driver was forced to ride the jeep while another suspect drove the victims’ vehicle.

The same day, the abductors contacted the boy’s father, Jepson Dichaves, by telephone and demanded P26 million in ransom. The amount was lowered to P1.5 million.

Unknown to the abductors, the victims’ family sought the help of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) as negotiations for the ransom were being made.

The PACC allowed the victims’ family to agree to a Dec. 22 payoff at the Magallanes Commercial Center, where the father was asked to leave the money inside his car’s trunk.

The abductors left the victims at a gas station in the area, where they were rescued by agents. Uybuco was arrested while trying to leave the pick-up site. He resisted arrest but was subdued by police officers.