LAWMEN URGED TO STOP RESURGENCE OF KIDNAPPING INCIDENTS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today expressed alarm over an apparent escalation of kidnapping and murder incidents as he urged law enforcement authorities to act vigorously to address the problem.

Pimentel cited media reports identifying wealthy Binondo-based businessmen Jerry Chua and John Dee Tengco among the latest victims of kidnap-for-ransom syndicates.

He criticized law enforcement officials for making the false claim that the kidnapping-for-ransom cases have been reduced to negligible level.

I denounce the resurgence of kidnapping and murder cases. And I find the coverup attempts of authorities deplorable, he said.

The minority leader said the abduction victims from Chinatown are usually freed after ransom is paid by their families without bothering to report the kidnapping cases to the police.

Pimentel said the refusal or failure of the relatives of the victims to seek the help of the police does not speak well of the public regard for law enforcers.

Life is already hard as it is. But it is worsened by lack of adequate protection by government, he said.

He also asked the newly-created National Anti-Crime Task Force, headed by Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, what it has done to stem the tide of kidnappings, murders, robberies and other organized and heinous crimes.