Arroyo orders renewed drive vs kidnappings

President Arroyo ordered the police yesterday to step up the campaign against kidnappings after an apparent resurgence of abductions in recent months.

Mrs. Arroyo said in a statement that the police had been successful in busting several kidnapping syndicates in the past.

"But I am informed that there have been new groups that have sprouted," she said.

She ordered Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police, to draw up a new "order of battle" to wipe out the kidnap-for-ransom groups.

Police officials must "make a quick reassessment and a new order of battle, followed by a revamped crackdown," she said, adding that the fight against kidnapping was "of crucial importance to business confidence."

Anti-crime groups have recently warned of a rash of new kidnappings for ransom, often targeting Filipino-Chinese families who are widely perceived to be wealthy and reluctant to report crimes.

There is also a widespread belief that rogue police or military men are involved in kidnappings, further deterring victims from reporting the crimes.

Ebdane was ordered to curb the rash of kidnappings in the country, which seemed to have become a cottage industry, when he was appointed national police chief in July last year.

He promised to resign if he failed.

The number of kidnap-for-ransom cases in 2002 went down by 32 percent compared to the previous year, the PNP said.

Mrs. Arroyo said that police, the victims’ families and the communities must work together to "get this threat out of the way like we did several months ago."

Meanwhile, government troops clashed with a kidnap gang in Mindanao early Thursday, killing one member, the military reported yesterday.

There were no military casualties in the firefight that erupted before dawn near the town of Sultan Pendatun, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero.

He said the gang is part of the Pentagon group that has kidnapped foreigners in the past.

The Philippines has suffered from an image of being unsafe to tourists and investors due to a rash of kidnapping-for-ransom cases and drug-related crimes. Less than two million tourists visit the country each year.

In many instances, the police are perceived as being protectors of crime gangs.

In her State of the Nation Address last year, Mrs. Arroyo vowed to crush kidnap gangs as part of her pledge to build a "strong republic."

She branded terrorism and crime as "enemies of the state," saying lawlessness — particularly kidnapping, illegal drugs and terrorism — were threatening national security and undermining the country’s economic recovery efforts.

Mrs. Arroyo ordered "military-style" police operations in hunting down kidnap gangs.

In August last year, the Arroyo administration chalked a major victory when notorious gang leader Faisal Marohombsar was killed in a shootout with police in Cavite.

One of the country’s most wanted, Marohombsar was captured in February that year.

But he escaped in June from the Camp Crame national police headquarters in what became a major embarrassment for Mrs. Arroyo’s government.

Marohombsar’s gang, the "Pentagon," is among the top 21 kidnap groups being targeted by the government, and is considered a terrorist group by the United States. — AFP, Marichu Villanueva