WHAT WENT BEFORE: Crimes vs diplomats in PH rare

REPORTS of violence against members of the diplomatic corps or their families in the Philippines have been few and far between.

In June 2002, Chung Young-ho, third secretary of the South Korean Embassy, was found dead in Marikina City. The South Korean Embassy said Chung was the first Korean diplomat killed in a foreign country.

Members of the Ativan Gang were arrested the same month. Gang leader Rodrigo Fabricante admitted to police he abducted Chung, but said the Korean’s death was unintentional. Autopsy showed that the victim was choked to death.

In November 2001, the wife of a  French diplomat was reported to have been abducted at Better Living Subdivision in Parañaque City.

Her abduction dramatized one of the most disturbing new twists in the country’s kidnap-for-ransom crisis then when the kidnapping of foreigners living in or visiting the Philippines hit an all-time high.

The list of kidnapped victims then included  Martin and Gracia Burnham, two of the three US citizens taken hostage together with 17 Filipinos from the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan province, and American  Guillermo Sobero.

In November 2012, the husband of an American diplomat was stabbed dead in an altercation at the gate of Rockwell Center in Makati City.

George Anikow, 41, an inactive US Marine officer, died after he was mauled and stabbed twice by four men. The victim apparently earned the ire of his four alleged attackers when he gave the silver Volvo car they were riding in a hard tap, according to the police.

The suspects were identified as Juan Alfonzo Abastilla, 24; Crispin de la Paz, 28; Osric Cabrera, 27; and Galicano Datu III, 22. They were arrested by the Makati police as they were leaving the crime scene and charged with murder.

The victim, a dependent of one of the officers of the US Embassy, was waiting to be recalled to duty, police said. Inquirer Research