EDITORIAL – Kidnapping or road rage?

Authorities must ferret out the truth in the encounter last week in Batangas between Philippine Tourism Authority General Manager Robert Dean Barbers and a group that included a cop and an airman.

Barbers was the first to come out with his version of the incident, accusing the cop, an Air Force officer and three other men of attempting to kidnap him and his family while they were on their way to a beach in Batangas before noon last Saturday. Barbers said the alleged kidnappers’ Mitsubishi Adventure blocked his Ford Explorer. The men fled when a journalist arrived and recorded the incident in his cell phone camera, Barbers said.

But after an investigation, the Philippine National Police said the incident appeared to have been an altercation stemming from road rage. Airman 2nd Class Nino Virtusio said in a formal complaint that he was with his brother and two others in a car that Barbers’ sport utility vehicle had tried to overtake. When the two vehicles pulled over, Virtusio claims Barbers slugged him on the back of the head and brandished a pistol, introducing himself as a police officer. Barbers’ group then drove away.

Virtusio then called in reinforcements, including another brother who is a cop, and chased Barbers. They caught up with the SUV in Bauan, where Barbers claimed he and his family were nearly kidnapped.

There are people serving life terms at the national penitentiary for killing others in a fit of road rage and even over parking disputes. Virtusio’s version of the incident seems more plausible, considering that kidnappers and carjackers are normally heavily armed and do not use their own vehicles. They also take pains to conceal their identities from witnesses and operate quickly, giving their victims no time to argue.

Still, if Virtusio had summoned his policeman-brother to chase the guy who had slugged him, they should have apprehended Barbers when they caught up with him and then booked him for physical injuries. Instead they fled like guilty men when they spotted someone documenting the incident by cell phone. Or did they leave after recognizing Barbers and deciding that they did not want to tangle with the high and mighty?

Until yesterday, the police had not yet even determined if Barbers was licensed to carry a gun. Is his story a lie? The truth must be known and anyone who abused his authority must be punished.