SENATOR Grace Poe is set to file a resolution urging the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs to conduct an inquiry into the reportedly increasing number of abduction cases in Metro Manila and Luzon.
“An abduction case is one too many. We cannot allow this situation to threaten our people’s safety and trample on our efforts to help them get through the difficult times,” Poe lamented.
The Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PCCCII) President Lugene Ang earlier reported that in the last 10 days, 56 kidnapping incidents involving Filipino and Chinese nationals, including children, occurred. The figure excludes unreported cases, Poe’s resolution cited.
PCCCII also detailed, “These kidnappers are worse than animals. They use torture and intimidation, rape women and send the videos to the victim’s relatives demanding huge sums of money. In some cases, the victims were even sold to other kidnapping groups. These are unprecedented and beyond human comprehension.”
Poe’s resolution said, “One of these cases is the kidnap-slay of pharmaceutical executive Eduardo Tolosa Jr., chief executive officer of Iraseth Pharma Inc., who was reportedly burned for three days by his abductors after he was last seen alive in a Toyota Land Cruiser when he picked up P5.7 million in cash and two expensive watches in Bonifacio Global City.”
Another unresolved case is the recently circulating traffic video titled, “Kidnapping sa Skyway galing airport” where three unidentified vehicles are seen surrounding a white vehicle in an elevated highway and men are seen trying to open the cornered white vehicle, the resolution further said.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Chief for Administration Jose Chiquito Malayo has disputed the figures, citing only four recorded abduction incidents this year of which one is related to Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), with kidnappers being foreign nationals.
The figure cited by Malayo was belied just a few days later when a PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) report said that cases of kidnapping targeting workers of POGO firms have increased by 25 percent.
The report from AKG showed that there were 27 kidnapping cases from January to September, with 15 POGO-related, 11 kidnapping-for-ransom cases and one casino-related case.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said that they are not discounting the possibility that some cases of kidnapping of POGO workers are not being reported to authorities.
Poe pressed in her resolution, “There is an urgent need to determine the status of these cases, possible motives, agency efforts to identify the perpetrators, and the measures instituted by relevant authorities to prevent the continuous rise of abduction cases in the country.”
“There is also a need to ascertain claims that foreign nationals are conducting these criminal activities,” the resolution added.
