Duterte offers P5 M for head—literally—of Davao carjacking boss

Vice mayor Rodrigo Duterte

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has promised a reward of P2 million pesos to anyone who captures alive the alleged leader of a local car theft syndicate, P4 million if he is captured dead, and a bonus of P1 million if the man’s head is presented to him  in ice.

Rodrigo told reporters here Wednesday night that since he was running virtually unopposed for Mayor of Davao City in next year’s elections, he would use part of the money he had set aside for the campaign to finance the reward for the capture of Ryan Yu also known by the alias “Baktin”, Visayan for piglet.

“Two million pesos to those who can capture him alive, another two million to who can capture him dead, and if you can hand over to me his head, I will shell out additional P1 million as additional reward,” Duterte said.

Duterte was apparently irked because Yu had implicated Duterte’s son Paolo in Yu’s illegal operations. The younger Duterte, who currently chairs the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC), is running for Davao City vice mayor in the May  2013 elections.

“You can put his head in a freezer, hand it over to me and I will personally hand the money to you,” Duterte said, renewing  warnings to  criminals in the city.

Police have tagged Yu as the leader of a ring behind a series of car thefts in Davao and other parts of Mindanao, including Tagum and Surigao del Norte, which they said had links to the national carjacking syndicate whose leader is currently in detention.