On Monday, October 17th, 2011, at 230PM, 5 year old Dave Anthony Jaime Chiu finished his kindergarten class for the day at Davao City's Matina Central Elementary School in Talomo District's Barangay Matina and exited the building to wait for his father to pick him up. Standing in front of his school young Dave Anthony was approached by a stranger who told the young boy that his father was busy at the family resturant and catering business, Sunnypoint Function Plaza on Ma-a Road in Barangay Ma-a and so he had been sent to pickup Dave Anthony from school. Having never been properly taught by his parents not to go with strangers the little boy complied snd followed the man to an idling black motorcyle whose driver had been impatiently revving his engine and in doing so inadvertently attracted attention so that numerous people witnessed a man helping a little boy onto the motorcycle, behind the driver, and continued watching as the same man climbed aboard himself, in back of the little boy. Together they drove off into the afternoon traffic.
Just after the three had disappeared into Davao City Richard Chiu arrived at the school only to discover that his son was nowhere to be found. First checking with the school's staff who were at a loss to explain the boy's disappearance Mr.Chiu soon found his intial confusion had turned to horror and then very quickly into abject terror. Not knowing just what to do he continued roaming inside and outside school. After quickly confirming his worst fears and still in a state of shock Mr.Chiu hurried back to his SUV for the unbearably long drive to the nearest CPO, or City Police Office. It was just as he pulled up to the Talomo Police sub-station that his cellphone behan ringing loudly. The voice on the other end confirmed the distraught father's nagging fear that indeed his 5 year old son had been kidnapped.
Like many living in Davao City the Chiu family lulled itself into a false sense of security. Though Tsinoy (Filipino of Chinese descent) and living relatively close to Cotabato City where Tsinoy are kidnapped quite frequently the Chius believed that by living in Davao City they were invulnerable to such things. Local warlord, Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte who is now serving as the city's Vice Mayor while his daughter Sarah "Inday" Duterte Carpio keeps his mayoral throne warm for the requisite three year interim between nine year term limits gives the phrase "tough on crime" new meaning. His unabashed dispensation of violence to those he has deemed "criminal" or "corrupt" has made him a Mindanowan icon and raised his profile to the national level.
Unfortunately Vice Mayor Duterte has been less than circumspect in his application of violence. As I have noted in my "Political Development" entries Duterte, who frequently tours his huge city under the cover of darkness atop his extremely large Harley Davidson motorcycle, amidst a pack of security escorts, police and soldiers on their own motorcycles, as if he is some sort of Pinoy "Hells Angel" kicking as* and taking names. Whether it is pistol whipping a 14 year old for breaking the curfew he himself imposed or chasing after a hapless jeepney driver who dared to drive 10 km/h over Duterte's uni-laterally imposed speed limit so as to slap a man old enough to be his father you can rest assured that the city of Davao will remain safe for at least another day.
The flipside to Duterte's almost psycopathic application of violence is that the crime in Davao City is extremely low in relative terms. The ideal ratio of police for citizens for example, is one uniformed officer for every 500 citizens. Davao City has one officer for every 1,400 citizens and that is its overall manpower and not just its uniformed presence so that the actual ratio is roughly one uniformed police officer for every 2,200 citizens and yet the city has, as noted, an extremely low crime index.
In terms of KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, aside from the case I am discussing in this entry the city hasn't endured a kidnapping since the late-1990s, or so Vice Mayor Duterte would have the world imagine. There have been staged, or faked kidnappings, such as those by German national Fier Medricat and Catherine Graciela Manalo, two separate cases I have discussed in previous KFR entries (Second Quarter of 2010 and the Second Quarter of 2011 respectively), but there have also been bonafide KFRs that take place much more often than anyone imagines. Two brief examples being:
1) Jerry Jimenez, Supervisor for the Davao Branch of the Solid Shipping Lines Corporation located in Davao City's Barangay Tibunco. The firm, a domestic intra-island freight carrier with nine medium sozed freighters between Manila and Mindanao apparently attracted the attention of a homegrown KFR organisation. The group, led by the now imprisoned Willy Estribor barged into the Jimemez home in the city's Insular Village Subdivision, on JP Laurel Avenue at 1AM on February 5th, 2010. After rudely awakening Jimenez and his wife the two were forced to dress themselves at gunpoint after which they were led out to a waiting SUV which carried them into incognito. On February 11th Mr.Jimenez and his wife were released none the worse for the wear after Solid Shipping Lines forked over a healthy P3 Million in cash ($66,000). Immediately after their release the couple moved to the United States as Mr.Jiminez quit his job.
2) Local Tsinoy business magnate Benito Ong was grabbed on Monday, June 22nd, 2010, as he was just about to enter his buisness headquarters in the city's Barangay Obrero 12 in District. At gunpoint Mr.Ong was bundled into an idling minivan and was quickly driven into captivity. Quickly contacting family members his non-negotiated ransom of P5 Million ($110,000) was delivered by 1PM that same day and Mr.Ong was able to enjoy a late supper with his family that very evening after being released at 7PM, known in the trade as an "Express KFR."
Indeed, in the last days of September, 2011, the Chiu family matriarch, 57 year Elena Chiu was herself victimised in a commercial burglary when two of her adjoining businesses in the city's Barangay 76A (Bucana) in Talomo District, the Five R Pawnshop and the Lailai Travel and Tour of Davao agency were broken into by what appears to be a highly organised group. Using an adjacent commercial space undergoing renovation as a staging point they simply removed an airconditioning unit and then widened the space with sledge hammers. Once inside the thieves helped themselves to the relatively minor sum of P200,000 ($4,300). Even with this wakeup call the Chius continued sleep walking through their routube, ergo young Dave Anthony being kidnapped.
The caller instructed Mr.Chiu not to contact the authorities and not to lose his cell phone because they would be contacting him again shortly with their demands. Making his second huge mistake Mr.Chiu hung up the phone and promptly entered the police substation to report his son's abduction. If there is one thing one should never do it is to contact the authorities. KFR organisations are tied into local power structures. Trying to negotiate a ransom for your loved one as a police officer slash KFR group member sips coffee in your "sala" (livingroom) is never intelligent.
The next morning, Tuesday, October 18th, Vice Mayor Duterte (make no mistake, his daughter is keeping his seat warm but he still remains the power to contend with) was appraised of the situation and began keeping close tabs on the case after an initial Command Conference on the incident at lunch that day. That night at 11PM Dave Anthony's mother received the second call from the kidnappers, as Mr.Chiu sat nervously listening by speakerphone, as the kidnappers opened negotiations with an initial demand for P5 Million ($110,000). When Mrs.Chiu stammered in response the caller angrily warned her that if the family tried to unnecessarily prolong negotiations her son would be returning home minus a vital internal organ or two because they would simply sell his kidney to raise the desired funds. Quickly replying Mrs.Chiu simply explained that she was nervous just as any mother naturally would be in the same circumstances. By the time the call ended the Chius had almost effortlessly gotten the ransom lowered to the much more palatable P2 Million ($44,000), showing that whoever was holding their son was not a professional, something that counter-intuitively is far from comforting.
The next day, Wednesday, October 19th, Mr. Chiu headed downtown to the CPO Headquarters where the police discussed the previous evening's phone call and its ransom negotiations. Allowing a city police officer to pose as the family negotiator when the kidnappers made contact that afternoon Mr.Chiu ended up agreeing to make a ransom down payment of P188,000 ($3,900) and some 24 karat heirloom gold jewlery. Setting the exchange for that evening, the CPO and Vice Mayor Duterte began formulating an entrapment operation to arrest the kidnappers, recover the ransom, and most importantly, ensure 5 year old Dave Anthony Jaime Chiu's freedom.
Having watched one too many Hollywood movies the kidnappers ordered the "negotiator" to proceed to the municipality of Digos City in that same province, Davao del Sur. There the negotiator was told, he would receive another phone call instructing him to take the next step. Having no choice but to comply the entire operation moved down to Digos City. When the second phonecall came the negotiator was told to now proceed back to Davao City and wait at a location in Toril District's Barangay Sibulan. Back in Davao City now the expected third phonecall finally arrived after midnite and the negotiator was instructed to cross into the adjoining municipality of Santa Cruz and proceed to a convenience store in that town's Barangay Sibulan (both Santa Cruz and Davao City's Toril District have a Barangay Sibulan which was actually a single community that was vivisected by re-drawn municipal borders).
Arriving at the convenience store after the daylong wild goose chase, at 1AM on Thursday, October 20th, police operatives observed two motorcycles with two men riding tandem on each waiting suscpiciously. As the negotiator and Mr.Chiu made their way to the designated spot one of the motorcycles' passengers dismounted and strode over and asked if they had brought the agreed upon sum. Tenatively Mr.Chiu handed over a bag containing the cash and jewlery and as he did so he nervously asked about his son. Ignoring the question the youth replied that Mr.Chiu should go home and wait for a phonecall about the next step in negotiations. Realising that the victim wasn't on scene the police impetuously decided to arrest all four men and use them to ascertain young Dave Anthony's whereabouts.
Quickly rushing the motorcycles just as the man carrying the ransom bag approached his cohorts they managed to grab the ransom bearer but lost the other three kidnappers as the motorcycles quickly escaped at a high rate of speed. Not suprisingly the police told Richard Chiu that the ransom had unfortunately already been handed off by the ransom bearer and was therefore considered gone for good although the man was grabbed well before reaching the motorcycles. By torturing...I mean "interrogating" the ransom bearer, 18 year old Joel Reyes Moda, they were able to get the names of his three cohorts and much more importantly they were able to discover the location of Dave Anthony. Rushing to a house in that same Santa Cruz Barangay Sibulan they safely recovered the young boy who by all appearances had managed fairly well. The couple holding him told a ridiculous story that had them receiving the boy in exchange for fuel. As they told it, the evening before four men on two motorcycles had knocked on their door asking if they might buy some fuel for their motorcycles (like a fair number of people living along major thoroughfares the family in question displayed a one liter bottle containing fuel outside their home signifying that the sell it). Low on cash the men offered young Dave Anthony as collateral in exchange, with a promise to pay up and collect the boy that same night. This being Mindanao the couple hasn't been arrested, though the police continued in their hunt for the three men aboard two motorcycles.
Later that same morning, just before 12PM the CPO received a call from the MPO (Municipal Police Office, the equivalent of the CPO in towns) in the municipality of Matanao in that same province of Davao del Sur. One of the wanted motorcycles, the one with only one man, had been found parked outside a village home in Barangay Sinawilan. Proceeding to Matanao the Davao City CPO personnel assigned to the case linked up with their Matanao MPO colleagues and the combined force made their way to the house in question. There they kicked in the door and found their wanted man, 28 year old Jack Ferdinand Pala asleep on a couch. Shooting him in the face at point blank range and instantly killing him the Davao City CPO then claimed that Pala had been found while driving his motorcycle and had initiated a firefight in which he then raised his arm to throw a hand grenade necessitating a lethal response. Suuuuure. Pala was carrying an empty 38 revolver which was also held up as poof positive of his wily and dangerous ways.
Pala, of Davao City's Barangay Crossing Bagabas (Bagabas Bridge) in Toril District is an interesting character. Though nominally employed recently as a triksiad driver (almost the least expencive form of Philippine public transportation, an offroad motorcycle with an aluminum shell fitted around it with vinyl benches in front and back for fare paying passengers) he had been a gang member in his teenaged years and ended up convicted at age 20 for raping a maid in a house and his friends were burglarising. He was also convicted of the burglary, against the home of Davao City attorney Vivencio Vedallo in 2003, along with six other gang members. The gang specialised in such acts and so, though a long shot, there is always the chance that the breakin at the pawn shop and travel agency three weeks earlier may have been a related precursor to this kidnapping. With Pala lying in a pine box this will never be known.
The two remaining kidnappers in this current case remain free and will probably never be arrested if past performance of the Philippine justice system is any sort of indicator. 18 year old Joel Reyes Moda, a resident of Sitio Dona Pilar in Davao City's Barangay Sasa, in Buhangin District remains in the Davao del Sur Provincial Jail as his case begins its long and winding road.
No comments:
Post a Comment