Police asked to explain kidnapping of Cagayan de Oro trader

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines—City councilors here want the police to explain the ease with which kidnappers abducted a businessman here last week and escorted him home after his family paid them a “board and lodging fee,” according to Councilor Alvin Calingin.

Chief Insp. Reynante Reyes, chief of the police’s Regional Special Operations Group, said the kidnappers brought Manny Boniao home on a motorcycle around 7:30 p.m. last Saturday, five days after his abduction on September 19.

Mayor Vicente Emano confirmed that Boniao’s family paid the kidnappers for Boniao’s “board and lodging” while in captivity but said he could not disclose other details of the kidnapping pending an investigation by the police.

“The family has paid for the board and lodging of Boniao,” Emano said in a radio interview.

Councilor Calingin said the Boniao kidnapping has put across a message that “nobody was safe in this city anymore.”

“The kidnappers can do their thing at will,” he said.

Calingin said the police should explain why it failed to stop the Boniao kidnapping, which took place inside his store around 10:30 a.m., at a time when the city is bustling with activity.

And the police should also explain why it failed to monitor the kidnappers when they were sending Boniao home, he said.

Councilor Roger Abaday, a licensed criminologist, said the police appeared to have failed in strengthening its intelligence network, which was why the kidnappers managed to snatch Boniao.