LUCENA CITY—Three Filipinos who were working for Chinese employers in Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City were found and assisted by authorities in Calauan town, Laguna province, on Tuesday a day after they were abducted along with six Chinese nationals.
Village officials at Barangay Limao in Calauan identified the three Filipino kidnapping victims as Marian Arambulo, and Henry and John Ray, both surnamed Catapat, the Police Regional Office in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) said in a report Tuesday.
The personal relationship between the two Catapats was not specified in the report.
Citing the statement of the victims, the police said six armed men forcibly entered the house of their employer, Ceng Chi Liang, in Sampaca Street of Ayala Alabang Village, around 4 a.m. Monday.
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Tied, blindfolded
The intruders tied and blindfolded Liang, the three employees and five other unidentified Chinese nationals, the Calabarzon police said.
The victims were then forced into a Toyota Hiace commuter van, which traveled to Laguna.
According to the investigators, the three Filipinos were eventually freed in Barangay Limao with the instruction not to report the incident to the authorities. The victims’ jobs were not specified in the report.
The Calauan police immediately coordinated with the Muntinlupa City police station to assist the three Filipinos.
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Similar case
A continuous investigation was under way while the search continued for the six missing Chinese.
In an earlier report, the regional police also reported that two male Chinese nationals, who were allegedly kidnapped in the cities of Parañaque and Manila, were found in General Trias City in Cavite province after they sought help from residents there on Oct. 17.
Police said the victims—Wen Zhang Chen, 46, of Sta. Cruz in Manila, and Chong Wing Tai, 55, a resident of Concorde Village Sunrise in Parañaque—were found by the police after they asked for assistance from an employee of a hotel in Barangay Biclatan.
According to the victims, they were kidnapped by seven unidentified male Chinese and Filipinos on Oct. 16 around 9 p.m.
Initial report
They were later brought to a house inside a subdivision in Barangay Biclatan, where they stayed for one day, handcuffed and their mouths covered with packaging tape.
An initial report said they were found by concerned citizens who helped them seek police assistance at the hotel.
The police did not provide the details of the supposed abduction or how the victims escaped from their kidnappers. INQ