Kidnapped NPD cop feared dead

MANILA, Philippines - A missing Northern Police District policeman could already be dead since he was reportedly kidnapped nearly a month ago in Batangas province, NPD investigators said yesterday.

NPD intelligence chief Superintendent Remus Medina said Police Officer 2 Henry Guevarra – formerly with the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force in Camp Crame and was with the NPD Police Community Relations Office when he went missing on Jan. 21 – could have already “resurfaced” by this time if nothing bad had happened to him.

“Apart from the time factor, blood stains on Guevarra’s vehicle showed something wrong could have happened to him,” Medina said.

On the morning of Jan. 21, Guevarra, a resident of Tanauan, Batangas, left his home, accompanied by neighbor Rolando Angeles, in his white Toyota Fortuner (ZAF-191). Both men never returned home.

Three days after the disappearance, unidentified men tried to sell Guevarra’s vehicle to a village official in Cavite for only P100,000 but the transaction did not push through as the men fled when the official started questioning them. The official sought police help after he found dried bloodstains in the back seats of the vehicle.

On Feb. 1, a certain Clariza contacted Guevarra’s relatives, reportedly asking P1 million for the freedom of Guevarra and Angeles.

Guevarra’s kin sought help from the police the following day and negotiated for the payoff. The ransom was lowered to P500,000.

Guevarra’s family asked for a few days to gather the money and the delivery of the ransom was set on the afternoon of Feb. 6 at the Balintawak market at the boundary of Caloocan and Quezon City.

The actual payoff was made in front of a restaurant along EDSA in Caloocan City at around 10 p.m., resulting in the arrest of Molen Gilla, alias Clariza; and her boyfriend, Rufino Antonino Lope Jr.

On Feb. 8, Medina filed kidnapping for ransom charges against Gilla and Lope before the office of Caloocan City Prosecutor Oliver Oraya. No bail was recommended.

Despite their arrest, the suspects remained uncooperative. They both denied involvement in Guevarra’s disappearance.

Gilla, who claimed to be a drug informer working for Guevarra, said she “did not ask for P1 million from Guevarra’s relatives. I asked only P1,000 for my fare in going to Bulacan to help find Guevarra.”

Gilla claimed she and Guevarra were once lovers. She claimed that Guevarra had two other common-law wives and one of them set her up for the crime.

Medina said a deeper probe is being conducted into the case after intelligence reports stated Guevarra was seen in Maharlika Village in Taguig a day after he reportedly left Batangas.