COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Mayor Muslimin Sema on Wednesday issued a "shoot-to-kill order" to authorities tracking down Pentagon kidnap gang members who kidnapped a four-year-old Chinese-Filipino boy on June 25.

Sema told a local radio station here that he also asked the Task Force Tugis of the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army to ensure the safe recovery of the victim.

The Pentagon faction that snatched the boy just outside his pre-school was said to be headed by a former disc jockey and included some employees of the Land Transportation Office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as members.

"If they resist arrest and try to fight, my standing order is to capture them dead or alive. Shoot and kill them if necessary," Sema said.

He said the order meant that operatives of the Task Force Tugis "can do anything possible for their capture."

As this developed, police were verifying reports on Wednesday that the kidnappers had asked the victim's family to pay between P15 million and P20 million in ransom. The boy’s family is said to be involved in several businesses in Maguindanao and in this city.

Police investigators said they have been having a hard time getting the victim's family to cooperate with the police.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, admitted that the operation against the Pentagon gang encountered a setback when a suspect managed to slip out of a police cordon during an operation in the village of Bagua Dos here on Tuesday.

Dangane said the alleged mastermind, Saudi Kasan, who was linked to the kidnapping of a Chinese in Kabacan, North Cotabato in May, fled before operatives arrived at his house.

Sema urged the victim’s family to trust the government in its efforts to rescue the boy.