Kidnapping

Some weeks ago a friend wanted to know if I now go around with a bodyguard. The context of that rather weird question was the spate of kidnapping incidents in the Tsinoy community. It turned out there were more rumors than actual kidnap cases, these rumors passed around by word of mouth, text messages and social media, most of them unverified, many of them variations of one case that ended up being reported as two or three different cases. For example, accounts of a young couple – boyfriend and girlfriend – kidnapped inside a mall resulted in a marked drop in shoppers at that mall for weeks. In truth, the couple was not taken at the mall; their car was eventually left at the mall parking lot. They were actually taken near a popular restaurant in a middle class residential area – and this was reported as yet another, separate kidnapping incident.

At the same time, rumors were flying thick and fast that a high school student of an exclusive girls’ school was kidnapped and killed. However, one person who actually went to the school to verify the rumors debunked them; school authorities made a person by person inventory, and all the students were accounted for – alive (some were sick and thus absent from class) and kicking.

There are, unfortunately, too many actual and real kidnapping cases; adding unverified, embellished and even imaginary incidents does not help anyone. Rumors and misinformation only feed public paranoia and contribute nothing towards solving crimes or preventing them from happening.

The Chinese government has issued an advisory on travel to the Philippines due to an upsurge in crimes against its nationals. Chinese embassy officials in Manila have reportedly relayed their concerns to the government, and have met with leaders of anti-crime organizations. The embassy claimed that in the first nine months of this year, there were 12 kidnap for ransom incidents involving their nationals, as well as ten murder cases and three robberies.

Anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See, who had met with embassy officials, expressed surprised at the claimed number of cases, saying that their meeting, back in July, dealt with “peace and order but it was very general...there was not even one specific case discussed.” Embassy officials had themselves brought up the issue of those held hostage because of gambling debts – Chinese nationals who come to play at casinos (particularly those north of Manila) incur significant losses and when they cannot pay, they call their families back in China and, unable to reveal the real reason, say they have been “kidnapped” and for “ransom” money to be sent over. These cases – reportedly as many as 60 a month – are probably reported as actual kidnap incidents. In light of these and other issues, Ang-See had told Chinese and Hong Kong media that the travel advisory was “unfair and uncalled for,” also citing “lack of support from them (embassy) to kidnap victims... even for interpreters or translators” when complaints are filed.

For sure, the peace and order situation is of serious concern; let us – everyone – be responsible enough not to unnecessarily fan the flames.