Kidnap suspect is ‘military asset’

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A kidnapping suspect arrested recently in Tacurong City has turned out to be a “military asset” and a civilian informer of the Maguindanao provincial government, the intelligence chief of the police in Central Mindanao said.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane said police records showed that Pendatun Kusa had worked as a “civilian agent” of the Army’s 78th Infantry Battalion in 1996 and was an “acting consultant” to the Maguindanao provincial government that year.

Kusa, alias “Penny Tatak,” did not resist arrest when he was collared by police in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province on March 23.

His arrest was prompted by a warrant for his arrest that was issued by a South Cotabato judge in connection with the kidnapping of a businesswoman there.

Dangane described Kusa as a member of the dreaded Pentagon kidnap gang operating in Central Mindanao.

He said among the cases that Kusa was involved in was the 2009 abduction of a four-year-old scion of a Chinese-Filipino family here.

Dangane said it was also possible that Kusa was involved in the February 26 abduction of Chinese-Filipino businessman Eulogio Yu here. Yu remain has not yet been released.