Where were the cops?

The two children of Negros Occidental Rep. Julio Ledesma IV were dropped off by their kidnappers at 4:30 yesterday morning near a hamburger stand in Makati. On instructions of the kidnappers, the two walked to nearby Makati Medical Center, where they were picked up by their father and his famous fiancée, actress Assunta de Rossi.

The circumstances of the release indicate two things. First, although the abduction was perpetrated brazenly on a busy street during the morning rush hour in San Juan, police lost track of the kidnappers. Second, there is only one reason kidnappers quietly release their victims: money has changed hands. This suspicion was on everyone’s mind yesterday as details of the release became known.

To be fair to our cops, who did rescue recently a five-year-old kidnap victim from a prominent clan, I’m not ruling out a third possibility — that this is all part of a police strategy to get the suspects once the victims are released. (By getting the suspects I mean they can either be apprehended or permanently neutralized, like the Pentagon Gang’s Faisal Marohombsar.) Every kidnapper worth his salt knows the greatest danger for him could come after he has released his victim.

This possibility is reinforced by Ledesma’s statement crediting "a secret but tried and tested" government formula for his children’s release — an indication that he did coordinate with authorities.

Malacañang explained that this formula was used in solving the kidnapping of Jackie Rowena Tiu last year. Tiu’s family, I must clarify, refused to cooperate with the police and paid a P10-million ransom for her release. The payoff was made outside the Manila Hotel, a stone’s throw from a police outpost. Unknown to Jackie’s relatives, their movements were being monitored by the police. After Jackie’s release, the cops pounced on the kidnappers at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel — and recovered all the ransom.

If this is what’s happening in the Ledesma case, and ransom was indeed paid, the congressman can only pray that the money will also be recovered once the culprits are caught. When dealing with money recovered from thugs, some cops can be more efficient than tax collectors in deducting "operational expenses." Sometimes they get greedy and keep everything for themselves.

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For now, people are asking two questions amid images of the happy reunion between Ledesma and his children: How much was paid? And where were the cops?

Reports yesterday said there was even a dry run over the weekend for the purported payoff, with the kidnappers taking Ledesma on a wild goose chase to make sure he was not being tailed by the police. The amount mentioned during the dry run was said to be P5 million. It may be safe to speculate that the final amount was larger.

That’s a lot of money for four days’ work. Last week kidnappers also made P1.25 million from the abduction of a Filipino-American in General Santos City. The kidnappers weren’t caught either.

When there’s so much money to be made, how do you discourage kidnapping? The icon of a successful kidnapper, Ghalib Andang, a.k.a. Commander Robot of Abu Sayyaf notoriety, has never been caught after his band of hooligans pocketed at least $20 million from a kidnapping spree in 2000. Now he is cheekily sending out surrender feelers, wanting to start a new life. If he pays the right people the right amount, I have no doubt that he would one day enjoy peaceful retirement in his dream orchard.

There are news leaks that "destabilizers" were behind the recent sensational kidnappings. Well, if they were, it doesn’t change the fact that cops have to do their job, which is to apprehend suspects and solve kidnapping cases. It’s not enough to see kidnap victims walking to freedom. The culprits should be caught and any ransom recovered (without kotong). Then the culprits should be punished severely.

This is the only way of showing the world that the administration means business in its campaign against criminality, that we are truly on our way to becoming a strong Republic.

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In the case of Jackie Tiu, the P10-million ransom was recovered but it remains in the hands of prosecutors, as evidence. Haven’t prosecutors heard of a receipt? Why deprive a crime victim of her own money? At the very least, that P10 million can earn interest in a bank. When a kidnap victim loses control over her money, it’s like being victimized twice over.

It’s like stolen vehicles that are used for crimes. Once the vehicles are recovered by police, the legitimate owners often end up being deprived of their vehicles for months or even years ostensibly because the vehicles must remain impounded as evidence. Often the owners see their vehicles being used by the police.

Rich victims sometimes give up trying to recover their vehicles, writing off their cars or SUVs as donations to the police. But what of less-moneyed victims?

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The kidnapping of Ledesma’s children has put the fear of God into the hearts not of kidnappers but of other lawmakers. Some quarters advised senators and congressmen not to flaunt their wealth.

But whether a lawmaker or a private citizen, and whether or not one chooses to flaunt his wealth, no one must live in fear of being kidnapped in this country. The release of Ledesma’s children has done nothing to allay that fear.

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FLIP-FLOPPING: Is the controversy over Iraq driving a wedge between the Bush administration and its staunch ally Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Maybe it was just the imagination of people overwrought with memories of 9/11, but those who attended the memorial concert sponsored by the US Embassy last Sept. 11 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines noted that President Arroyo and US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone Jr. appeared frosty toward each other.

Of course the taray queen often looks frosty, but that night perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that the concert was staged two days after she declared that the Philippines was not committed to a US war on Iraq.

Would Washington’s displeasure have anything to do with the President’s flip-flopping over Desert Storm II?