Businesswoman abducted in Binondo

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-Chinese residents in Binondo Manila are alarmed over the possible rise of kidnap-for-ransom incidents after three unidentified armed men abducted a Filipino-Chinese businesswoman last Friday night in Juan Luna Muelle de Binondo, Bandera reported Wednesday.

According to a source whose name was withheld by the publication, the victim – a dealer of milk products and wife of a former village chairman – was on her way home from her store accompanied by her househelp and driver at 6:45 p.m. Friday.

According a source, whose name was withheld due to his lack of authority to disclose information regarding the matter, the suspects were on board a taxi when they intercepted the victim’s L300 van.

Armed with short firearms, the suspects forced the house help to alight the vehicle, leaving the driver and the Filipino-Chinese businesswoman on board before boarding the van and speeding off.

Hours after the incident, the victim’s family received a call from the abductors demanding a P50-million ransom in exchange for the freedom of the 70-year-old victim.

The victim’s family claimed that they have been coordinating with the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG). Meanwhile, the AKG denied to Bandera that they have an official report on the kidnapping of the Filipino-Chinese business woman.

Senior Superintendent Isagani Nerez, director of the PNP-AKG, said they received two reports of kidnapping incidents for this year.

The first recorded incident was in Mindanao while the second was in Luzon, both happened last February.

“Wala pang nare-report [na padukot sa Metro Manila] sa amin officially. Itong mga nasa records namin ay ‘yung confirmed na ginawa ng organized crime groups for ransom [There has been no report [of kidnapping in Metro Manila] filed to use officially. The ones in our records are the ones confirmed to have been perpetrated by organized crime groups),” police told Bandera, a publication of the Inquirer Group of Companies.

Nerez added that the kidnapping and killing of Leah Ng who was found inside a septic tank in Laguna last February 22, allegedly by police operatives was not included in the list.

“Hindi kasama dun sa record namin yung may motive na murder or collection ng monetary obligation [We do not include in our records cases that have motives of murder or collection of monetary obligation],” Nerez said.

It was reported that the kidnapping and killing of Ng was triggered by her business-related feud with a police official.

Meanwhile, several officials of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, a business group in Binondo have expressed alarm over the mounting number of violent incidents in China town over the past weeks and the lack of action from the Manila Police District Station 11.

“Two weeks ago merong negosyanteng Fil-Chinese ang binaril ng riding-in-tandem dahil inagaw yung kanyang bag. Tapos last week yung empleyado ng China Bank binaril din sa tapat mismo ng bangko.  Ttapos ngayon kidnapping naman,” pahayag ng isang negsoyante at miyembro ng Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce [Two weeks ago, a Filipino-Chinese business man was shot by two men riding-in-tandem because his bag was snatched from him. Then last week, an employee of China Bank was also shot right in front of the bank. And now, this kidnapping incident],” an official of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce said.