7 kidnappers get life terms

Seven men accused of kidnapping two women in Las Piñas City two years ago were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Las Piñas judge yesterday.

Judge Bonifacio Sanz Maceda of Las Piñas Regional Trial Court Branch 275 found Reynaldo Badilla, Reynario Batis, Renato Igloria, Rudy Katangkatang, Maximo Alticen, Sandy Germinal and Dioscoro Ranci guilty of abducting Josephine Chua and Ivy Balibag on June 14, 2004.

Maceda likewise ordered the accused to indemnify the victims the amount of P500,000 each.

Court records showed Chua and Balibag, both employees of a steel firm in the city, were driving to a company warehouse when a white Mitsubishi L-300 van blocked their path.

Armed men, who introduced themselves as policemen, then forced the two women into the van.

On the evening of the same day, families of the victims received a call from the suspects, who demanded P3 million in ransom.

After the families of the abducted women contacted authorities, operatives of the Southern Police District conducted an operation, resulting in the arrest of Badilla, the van’s driver.

Badilla then provided information that led to the arrest of the other suspects, all alleged members of Waray-Waray kidnap-for-ransom group.

Chua and Balibago were rescued by operatives of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force from a safehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna.