Batangas trader’s daughter abducted

BATANGAS — A daughter of a gasoline station owner in Mataas Na Kahoy town here was seized by two men while she was jogging early morning last Wednesday, police said.

Chief Inspector Manuel Manalo, Mataas na Kahoy police chief, said the victim, Maria Elizabeth Luna, 46, was jogging along the town’s main street at about 5:30 a.m. when two men accosted and dragged her into a white Toyota car.

Both the Toyota car and a Nissan Frontier which the kidnappers used as a back-up bore no license plates, police said.

Police were having a hard time investigating the case because the victim’s family refused to cooperate with them.

"Pero patuloy pa rin ang aming paghahanap ng leads para ma-identify ang abductors (But we continue to look for leads to identify the abductors)," Manalo said.

Manalo said he has brought the case to the attention of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force.

In San Pablo City, Laguna, meanwhile, a pharmacist and her two daughters escaped unharmed from their two ski mask-wearing abductors Wednesday night.

Mila Santiago Ilagan, 42, and her daughters Aileen, 12, and Marivic, 7, were cruising Azucena street on board an Adventure van when they were flagged down.

The kidnappers, who introduced themselves as communist rebels, commandeered Ilagan’s van and then demanded P500,000 and medicines.

Ilagan said she would get the money from her cousins along the way, But upon reaching a police checkpoint, she gave hints to the lawmen that she was in trouble.

The police tailed them, prompting the kidnappers to alight and flee, abandoning Ilagan and her two daughters. — with Rene Alviar