PNP hunts 6 more suspects in Letran student’s kidnapping

The Philippine National Police is looking for six more suspects allegedly behind the kidnapping of a Colegio de San Juan de Letran student on Aug. 1.

The six were identified on Monday by the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) as Letran students Eriek Candaba, Billy Rocillo, Miguel Austria and Kim Pascua; Far Eastern University student Gabriel Gabu; and “Parañaque flying school” student Arvi Velasquez.

Earlier, four other college students were arrested for the kidnapping of Dan (not his real name), a 19-year-old Letran student.

According to Dan, he and a classmate, Jhulius Atabay, were abducted by six armed men in a Toyota Innova as they were waiting for a bus near the Light Rail Transit Central station in Manila on Aug. 1.

Atabay claimed he was released by the suspects who told him to demand P30 million from the victim’s family.

But when he was interrogated by authorities, Atabay confessed to being part of the scheme and told the police that his accomplices were keeping the victim at a house in Balut, Tondo.

Rescue operation

Authorities raided the house on Aug. 3, rescuing the victim and arresting his captors who were identified as Letran students Ferdinand dela Vega Jr. and Ralph Emmanuel Camaya, and De la Salle-College of Saint Benilde student Justine Mahipus.
The three later pointed to Atabay as the “mastermind.”

The four are facing charges of kidnap-for-ransom and serious illegal detention in the Department of Justice.
They are currently in the custody of the PNP-AKG pending a commitment order to be issued by a court.

In a statement, Colegio de San Juan de Letran officials said that while some of their students were “subjects of pursuit and arrest by police authorities,” they “remain committed to the just resolution of this case, to cooperating with police efforts, to extending appropriate help to the family of the victim, and to the protection and promotion of the welfare of our students.”

Young minds, criminal minds

At a press conference in Camp Crame on Monday, PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde lamented that “young minds can be criminal minds, too.”

Chief Supt. Glenn Dumlao, PNP-AKG chief, however, denied there was an increase in kidnapping cases in the country, saying he and his men handled 27 cases in 2017 compared to 16 cases so far this year.

Four of these cases were solved by the PNP-AKG over the weekend, including the Letran student’s case, another police-perpetrated kidnap-extortion scheme in Laguna City, and the rescue of a 1-year-old child abducted by her own Chinese father in Ilagan City, Isabela, for a P1.6-million ransom.