5 suspects in Batangas kidnapping charged

Batangas, Philippines - – Police have formally filed kidnapping charges against five suspects, including a former Air Force man and a policeman, in the kidnapping of a five-year-old Filipino-Chinese boy and his driver in Sto. Tomas town this province last Jan. 9. 

Senior Superintendent Omega Jireh Fidel, Batangas police director, identified those charged as former Air Force soldier Noe Raymundo, 54; Joel Talledo, 27; former policeman Elias Villon, 61; Roper Maala, 44; and Efren Marcina, 64.

The suspects were earlier reported to have snatched the boy along with his driver in front of his school in Tanauan City and commandeered the Isuzu vehicle carrying the two.

But the driver, who was subsequently freed in Alabang, Muntinlupa City on Jan. 20, said they were snatched in Barangay San Roque in Sto. Tomas town.

Upon his release, the driver recounted the kidnapping, helping police and elements of the Anti-Kidnapping Group at Camp Crame in Quezon City track down the suspects in Barangay Daliban, Carmona, Cavite.

Police subsequently rescued the boy and arrested two of the suspects in their Carmona hideout. The other suspects fell in a follow-up operation in San Pedro, Laguna.