Purisima names new PNP anti-kidnap group head

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima yesterday replaced the head of the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) amid the spate of kidnappings in the country.

Purisima named Senior Superintendent Roberto Fajardo as the new AKG chief, replacing Senior Superintendent Renato Gumban.

Gumban was designated deputy regional director for administration in Region 4-A comprising Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan, said Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, director of the PNP Public Information Office.

Sindac clarified that Gumban’s reassignment has nothing to do with the reported surge in kidnapping incidents in the country, particularly in Metro Manila.

“Senior Superintendent Gumban needs to be reassigned in other region as part of his career advancement before he could be promoted to a one-star rank. It has nothing to do with the issue on kidnapping,” he said.

Earlier, the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order raised concern on the rising cases of kidnapping for ransom.

Businessman Benito Chao was snatched in Caloocan City on Aug. 27. His body was later found in Barangay Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Gumban said there were only 14 cases of kidnapping for ransom from January to August this year compared to 15 incidents during the same period last year.

Although 25 cases of kidnapping were reported to the AKG, he said only 14 of them were verified to be motivated by ransom. He said the rest had other motives like extortion, payment of debt, robbery and murder.

Fajardo was the former head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-National Capital Region.

He busted the illegal online gambling operation of a Canadian man, tagged as the third most wanted by the US Department of Homeland Security for money laundering.

Fajardo was also responsible for the arrest of a CIDG officer in Pampanga and his six civilian aides for allegedly recycling shabu they seized from suspected drug traffickers.

He also helped in the arrest of former Commission on Audit chairman Reynaldo Villar in Parañaque City last April.

Villar is a co-accused of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a plunder complaint for alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.