Suspected kidnap group leader ambushed, killed in Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna, Philippines — The alleged leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group and his companion were killed in an ambush in Calamba City, Laguna on Wednesday evening.

Rolando “Rolly” Fajardo was on board a car, an Audi with plate number AAZ1435, with two other male companions when unidentified gunmen on a white car straffed their vehicle around 7:30 p.m. in Barangay Bagong Kalsada, a busy street in Calamba City.

Fajardo and one his companions, identified as Thomas Andaya, were both killed in the ambush, confirmed Senior Supt. Florendo Saligao in a text message on Thursday morning.

The victims had come from the adjacent Los Baños town and were headed north bound, according to a police source.

The source said Fajardo died at the Calamba Medical Center where the victims were rushed while Andaya, who was badly injured, died hours later.
Their third companion, identified as Marcilano Batan Jr., was unscathed from the attack.

Fajardo and his brother Harold were tagged in the 1986 kidnapping of Japanese executive Noboyuki Wakaoji.

Tagged back then as the country’s most wanted kidnap suspect, Fajardo was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino Internstional Airport in 2010 by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents upon his return to the Philippines after years of staying in Italy. He had denied then that he went into hiding abroad.

Police authorities, including Saligao, have no clear answer why Fajardo was out of detention and when he was released.