Singer-actor kidnapped

Singer-actor Gino Padilla, reportedly the half-brother of movie star Robin Padilla and nephew of House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla, was kidnapped while his bodyguard was killed by five armed men in Nueva Ecija Friday night.

According to Rep. Padilla, five armed men abducted the 27-year-old singer-actor after killing his bodyguard-caretaker Sixto Degracia at about 8:30 p.m. inside the celebrity’s farm in Barangay Bibitlat in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.

However, the regional and provincial police commands refused to confirm the kidnapping as of press time.

The assailants, whom the Padilla family suspect to be hired killers, also burned down the singer’s farmhouse, tractor and car before fleeing with him.

The singer popularized the song Closer You and I and also performed a commercial jingle with American chanteuse Tina Turner.

Rep. Padilla said the singer-actor’s mother, Jenny Serafin, said she received a telephone call from the abductors who allegedly claimed they were paid P400,000 by a still unidentified mastermind to kill Gino.

But Serafin said she received information that the killers were only paid P100,000 to kill her entire family and that the perpetrators were paid P15,000 in advance.

She dismissed suspicions that the New People’s Army pulled off the abduction because Gino had received death threats since December.

Rep. Padilla, on the other hand, suspects the incident had something to do with a supposed dispute among Gino’s relatives over large tracts of land.