Not all Chinese really kidnapped, says Ang-See

Along with the rise in kidnapping cases involving Chinese nationals in the country, there is a parallel upswing in bogus abductions of casino players from the mainland, according to anticrime crusader Teresita Ang-See.

“We are aware that some kidnapping cases involving Chinese nationals have been staged. These are casino players who lost a lot of gambling money. They want to get back their losses by staging their own kidnapping and asking for ransom from their relatives in China,” Ang-See said in a phone interview.

Ang-See, founder of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order, said her group had received reports of at least four kidnappings of Chinese nationals last month in Pampanga and Metro Manila that turned out to be false.

Ang-See said these engineered kidnappings should not distract the Philippine National Police and Department of the Interior and Local Government from addressing the “real and alarming” rise in the number of visiting Chinese tourists who had been snatched against their will by uniformed men.

The anticrime advocate had earlier told the Philippine Daily Inquirer about seven Chinese nationals who were kidnapped in separate incidents last month while on a tour outside Metro Manila.

She said the most glaring of these cases was the kidnapping of four Chinese nationals while visiting a relative in Cavite on July 27. She said the group was held for one day and were released after relatives paid P2.5 million in ransom.

Ang-See said the authorities merely shrugged off the incident without investigating any of the policemen involved. Gil C. Cabacungan