Kidnap for Ransom for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part VI: The Release of Bai Faridah Olam Adilao and Mokamed "Moca" Mimbantas

In my entry, "Kidnap for Ransom for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part II," I discussed the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom of Bai Faridah Olam Alidao, a 34 year old businesswoman from Iligan City in Lanao del Norte Province and her 22 year old driver Mokamed "Moca" Mimbantas. Moca was driving Ms.Adilao's pickup truck as he drove his boss home after leaving the family business headquarters in Marawi City's Pacasum Plaza, on Gumisa Avenue.

As they entered Barangay Nangka in the municipality of Balo-i, in Lanao del Norte Province they came to a PNP, or Philippine National Police checkpoint. As their pickup inched to the front of the cue an "officer" asked Ms.Adilao and Mr.Mimbantas to exit the vehicle for a spot search. Complying with the "officer's" directive they stepped out of the truck only to find themselves quickly ushered into an idling minivan that had been parked on the side of the road. It was then that they realised that they had been kidnapped.

Not long afterwards Ms.Adilao's husband, Sultan Abdurahim "Kim" Badawi Adilao, still at the Marawi City business headquarters, received a short and terse phone call from the kidnappers informing him that his wife and their driver had both been taken captive. The caller then instructed him not to contact the authorities. Of course that last point is moot since the kidnapping had transpired in broad daylight with a long cue of waiting motorists taking in quite an eyefill. The kidnapping had probably been reported before the minivan carrying the two captives had driven from the scene.

Thr Adilaos are extremely sucessful businesspeople whose bread and butter is the six store chain of retail weapon outlets, "Tactical Guns and Ammo Enterprises," and the closely affiliated four store private security firm, "Tactical Security Agency." In addition the couple own a single franchise of the "Generic Rx" pharmacy chain, a commercial printing shoppe, a ferry and aviation ticketing agency and to top it all off the couple are recent awardees of a contract to train area PNP (Philippine National Police) via TESDA, the Technical Education and Skills Development Agency, a Governmental entity.

At just after 3AM on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011, personnel manning a PNP (Philippine National Police) checkpoint in the municipality of Linamon's Barangay Nunukan, in Lanao del Norte Province were more than a bit suprised to see a couple in handcuffs nervously walking towards them. As the couple got closer one officer recognised the female as Bae Faridah Olam Adilao. Covered in bruises and almost catatonic she barely uttered a sound. The man, her driver Mokamed "Moca" Mimbantas was in tears himself but was able to give both their names and explain that indeed, they were the two kidnap victims that had been abducted in Balo-i on October 4th. Although both had suffered greatly they were alive and free.

Kidnap for Ransom for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part II: Faridah Olama Adilao and Moca Mimbantas

Although KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, is an industry dominated by Muslims at least so far as Mindanao is concerned, they are equal opportunity victimisers. Though it is true that most KFR victims are Christian this is merely because of two factors:

1) Christians on Mindanao tend to be significantly better off than local Muslims in the financial sense

2) Christians usually aren't members of families or clans who will seek to retaliate and even if they have the wherewithall to do so, aren't as knowledgable about the local scene so as to be able to ascertain who was actually involved

Still, Filipino Muslims are sometimes targetted. Such is the case I am focusing on in my current entry. 34 year old Bae Faridah Olama Adilao was being driven in her pickup truck by her family's driver, 22 year old Mokamed "Moca" Mimbantas on Saturday, October 1st, 2011. The two were en route to the Adilao's home in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte Province, returning after a visit to the Marawi City headquarters of the Adilao's business empire in the neighbouring province of Lanao del Sur. As the truck entered the municipality of Balo-i's Barangay Nangka they fell in behind a row of vehicles waiting to transit what appeared to be a PNP, or Philippine National Police checkpoint.

When Ms.Adilao's pickup truck finally inched forward both she and Mr.Mimbantas were brusquely ordered out of the vehicle so that the "officers" could "search" it. As a uniformed man jumped into the pickup and drove it onto the shoulder of the road others quickly disassembled the checkpoint and ordered Ms.Adilao and Mr.Mimbantas into a minivan which then turned around and drove back into Lanao del Sur Province.

Ms.Adilao's husband, Sultan Abdurahim "Kim" Batawi Adilao then received a phone call at his office in the family's business headquarters in Marawi City's Pacasum Square on Gumisa Avenue. The unidentified caller wasted no time in informing him that his wife and his driver had been kidnapped, along with the usual warnings not to co-operate with the AFP or PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police). Seeing as how the kidnap took place in full view of the public in the middle of the day the crime had already been reported to the Balo-i MPO, or Municipal Police Office. Following SOP, or Standard Operating Procedure, the MPO notifed the Police Provincial Office, or PPO. With that notification the kidnapping became public knowledge with or without Sultan Adio's consent.

Police responding to the scene of the crime found the Adiao's pickup truck on the side of the road exactly where the kidnappers had left it. With nothing else to go on the truck was impounded for evidence and the municipality of Balo-i empaneled the requisite CMC, or Crisis Management Committee. Chaired by the mayor of the municipality in which the kidnapping took place it includes the Directors of the PPO as well as the PRO, or Police Regional Office, along with the IB (Infantry Battalion) and Brigade COs, or Commanding Officers. Usually the local DSWD, or Department of Social Welfare and Development, will be included as well. The idea is to streamline the Government response as well as to provide a solid interface between the media and the authorities.

Bae Adilao is very well known in Marawi City. She and husband own Tactical Guns and Ammo Enterprises, a weapons shoppe with six branches, Tactical Security Agency with four branches, a franchise of the Generic Pharmacy chain, a printing shoppe, a plane and ferry ticketing outlet, a fast food resturant and as if that wasn't enough, was recently awarded a TESDA, or Technical Education and Skills Development Agency, contract in conjunction with the training of local PNP agencies. The couple was also in the process of widening its participation in TESDA.

For now all Sultan Adilao can do is sit back and comfort the couple's two young sons as he waits for Mindanao's latest psycho drama to unfold.

Kidnap for Ransom, Third Quarter of 2011, Part VIII: Alexander "Alex" Lim, Boyet "Henry" Alumbra, and Edgar Gomez

25 year old Alexander "Alex" Lim was spending June 8th much as he always did, supervising construction projects undertaken by the family firm, D L Construction. Based in Misamis Occidental Province's municipality of Ozamiz City, the company concentrates on Government projects such as the rehabilitation of Narciso Ramos National Hiway. In fact, it was that particular job that occupied Alex's mind that morning as he left the company compound. Driving the company's Toyota Fortuner was Alex's driver, Edgar Gomez. Along for the ride was Engineer Boyet "Henry" Alumbra, a private consultant contracted by the Government who was travelling with the pair in order to inspect D L's latest work on the road project. The trio planned to spend the morning inspecting work across the provincial line, in Lanao del Norte Province's town of Linamon. The company had just finished paving a stretch from that municipality's Barangay Samboron leading into the outskirts of Iligan City. Then, afterward, they planned to drop Mr.Alumbra off in the next province of Misamis Oriental, so that he could sign off on the work at the Regional DPWH, or Department of Public Works and Highways Office in Cagayan del Oro City.

By 925AM the group had entered Linamon and were just about to reach their destination in Barangay Samboron when they fell into line at a joint LTO/PNP (Land Transportation Office/Philippine National Police) checkpoint. As the SUV inched forward the three men hadn't noticed five men, all pointing M16s and in uniform surrounding their vehicle. Ordered to exit their vehicle the three were shunted towards a black Toyota Tamaraw FX and ordered to climb in. As two of the gunmen got into the D L Construction SUV the two vehicles left Linamon heading south.

Crossing the border into Lanao del Sur Province the two vehicles entered the municipality of Balo-i. Suddenly the vehicles pulled over in front of Balo-i Elementary School and after divesting him of his personal identification ordered Mr.Alumbra out and ordered him not to report the kidnapping to anyone lest they have to re-visit him under less amicble circumstances. Driving through Balo-i the vehicles again pulled over after entering Barangay Sarip Alawi. This time it was Mr.Gomez who was ordered out of the Tamaraw after being given that same threatening warning. Now only holding Mr.Lim the 2 vehicles proceeded on into Marawi City. On the edge of town the two vehicles pulled over once again. After setting the D L Construction SUV on fire the two gunmen who had occupied it got into the Tamaraw and drove with Mr.Lim into captivity.

From the typically ridiculous first demand of P20 Million ($475,000) negotiations for Mr. Lim's ransom ended up progressing very smoothly until, on July 9th, 2011 a representative of Lim's father handed over 1.5 Million Pesos ($33,000). On July 11th Alexander "Alex" Lim was released in the municipality of Saguiaran in Lanao del Sur Province.

Co-incidentally, this is the specific KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom that the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines' Colonel Daniel Lucero, Commanding Officer of the 103rd Brigade, has used as his rationale in pinning all recent KFRs within his AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "Area of Operation") on the Kuratong Baleng. As I noted in at least one recent KFR entry the Kuratong were a paramilitary, from Ozamiz City, who were co-opted by the AFP in the early-1980s in its COIN, or Counterinsurgency struggle against the NPA. After the group's de-activation at the end of the 1980s they fissured into roving criminal bands, almost all of whom operated on Luzon and to a lesser extent in the Visayas Region. Even if they were still in existence, and they are not, they could never operate in Muslim-dominated Lanao del Sur Province. They were Bisaya.

Kidnap for Ransom for the Second Quarter of 2011, Part IX: Camal Tocal

On June 11th, 2011 after spending a rewarding but tiring day visiting his clan in his boyhood home of Barangay Bacolod I in the municipality of Lumba-Bayabao in Lanao del Sur Province 37 year old businessman Camal Tocal was relieved to be heading home to Marawi City. Looking at his wife Rocma beside him and in the rear view mirror at his 12 year old son Jabber and 11 year old daughter Rohaima he must have marvelled at how far apart their lives in Marawi's Barangay Wawalayan Marinaut were from his own hardscrabble youth in a rural settlement beset by open warfare. Perhaps he also began to wonder if their 35 year old yaya, or nanny would be required for much longer. In another year both his children would be high school students.

As Tocal's red Mazda 6-7 sped down Narciso Ramos National Hiway and crossed into Marawi's Barangay Gadongan a battered white pickup truck quickly passed him before swerving in front of him and making him slam on his brakes. As he sat there in utter shock six men poured out of the truck with M16s and surrounded Tocal's vehicle. Brusquely opening the driver's side door two of the gunmen grabbed Mr.Tocal and dragged him into the cab of the pickup truck. The other gunmen then rifled through Tocal's Mazda and his wife's purse taking anything of value before running back towards the idling pickup truck and then speeding off in the opposite direction, back out of Marawi City and towards the municipality of Marantao.

Looking at the clock in the automobile's dashboard Mrs.Tocal saw that the attack had only taken minutes. Having glanced at the clock just before the car had screeched to a halt she remembered having seen it read 1228PM. Now it had barely passed 1232, in four minutes all their lives had changed forever. Collecting herself she borrowed the cellphone of a good samaritan who had stopped to help what he had first believed to be a stranded motorist. Doing what someone should NEVER do the shaken woman dialed the number of the Marawi City CPO, or City Police office and reported a kidnapping.

Recording the time received as 1240PM the CPO quickly alerted the town of Marantao's MPO, or Municipal Police Office and asked it to implement a Blocking Force in that municipality's Barangay Maul, both on the hiway and just off it on any access roads. Meanwhile the Marawi City CPO also scrambled its own chase cars for a hot pursuit. At just after 1PM a Marawi City CPO vehicle spotted the pickup truck crossing the cityline into Marantao and the chase was on. At about that same time the pickup truck carrying the gunmen and Mr.Tocal ran right through a Blocking Force checkpoint on the hiway and turmed down a side road. With both Marawi City AND Marantao police vehicles in high speed pursuit the kidnappers' truck made a run for it. Unfortunately for them though they clipped a Mitsubishi L300 passenger van as they attempted to pass it at a very high rate of speed.

Aside from superficially injuring all the van's passengers it almost sent the pickup truck careening into an irrigation canal. Regaining traction the truck again picked up speed but the near collision had allowed some of the pursuing police vehicles to close the gap quite a bit. Two of the kidnappers in the bed of the pickup truck then engaged their pursuers, intermittingly firing their M16s. Though no police were wounded the two gunmen themselves were not as fortunate:

1) Jonivy "Joni" Sarabia Diaz, age 20, of Iligan City in the neighbouring province of Lanao del Norte

2) Jamil "Mel Mel" Bubong Macadato, age 26 of Marawi City

were both moderately wounded by return fire. Though both men were far from death they were covered in blood and going into shock. Shortly after the exchange of gunfire the pickup truck was lost in the maze of jungle trails on the outskirts of Marantao. Thinking the two wounded men were close to dying their confederates dumped them onto the side of the road where police, later scouring the sector, recovered them and brought them to a hospital in Marawi City. On June 13th both men were charged both in the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom and Robbery as well as with the near collision with the Mitsubishi L300 passenger van and the injuries inflicted upon its passengers. However, whatever grain of intelligence both men MIGHT have produced was not forthcoming as neither one agreed to co-operate.

Having been counseled by those wiser than herself Mrs.Tocal broke off all contact with all law enforcement and the military and instead left it in the hands of her husband's clan. The Tocal Clan then employed the services of Mangombaya Mamasaranao to negotiate a reasonable ransom. On June 20th a ransom (undisclosed sum) was turned over to the representatives of the kidnappers and on June 21st Camal Tocal was released by his captors inside a courtyard on the Marawi City Campus of MSU, or Mindanao State University. That last fact is a bit ironic given the rash of KFRs targeting staff and students of the school. Though the university has made progress since the days when they hired KFR kingpings as Chiefs of Security the fact that a KFR group would be able to infiltrate campus security with a well publicised captive in tow is apalling to say the least. That they did so was a message to MSU brass, that they ought to finally pay the protection money long demanded.

As usual the authorities assume they are dealing with a retarded public by suggesting that the Kuratong Balaleng is behind this and other recent area KFRs. The Kuratong were a paramilitary formed by the Parijong Clan of Ozamiz City, in Misamis Occidental Province. Formed in the early 1980s as an anti-NPA force it was very quickly co-opted by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. When the NPA threat dissipated and its military patrons moved onto to other misery the group devolved into a score of unrelated criminal gangs all using the same name. However almost all operated outside of Mindanao. Moreover they were founded by and composed of Christian ethnicities, Cebuanos (Bisaya) and Ilonggo. Even if they were still in existence, and they aren't, they would never be able to operate in Lanao del Sur, let alone engage in KFR.

Just as in all other areas of Mindanao where KFR is endemic, Jolo, Basilan, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Central Mindanao the KFR Industry, and that is EXACTLY what it is, is tired directly into the local political structure slash powerbase. It is no secret that nothing moves in Marawi without the Mayor getting a taste. Of course then the powers that be, in this case Colonel Daniel Lucero of the AFP's 103rd Brigade has a highly vested interest in making up ridiculous stories. In this way people have a culprit to blame, even if that culprit really doesn't exist.

Kidnap for Ransom,First Quarter of 2011,Part VI:Fatima Angni,Nadja Saldivar and Maria Elda Senedo

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Kidnap for Ransom,Second Quarter of 2011,Part VII:Virgilio Fernandez,Amirogong and Aisha Tomara

Ahhhh,spring is in the air.flowers blooming,birds singing...and of course Filipinos kidnapping,practicing the nation's favourite sport:MISERY,in all its myriad forms.The Third Quarter has begun with 2 publicised cases,remembering that the general rule of thumb being that for ever publicised case there are 5 others going unreported.Some eventually gain publicity but most never do regardless of the outcome.

One of the ridiculous ideas that have developed over the last half a decade has been the"Circumfrential Road"development projects.Lake Bualan,Lake Lanao,Jolo Island in Sulu Provvince and the island province of Basilan have each had their perimeters outlined an extremely expensive boondoggles that serve no real purpose other than enriching the pockets of key politicians and whichever one of their family members are lucky enough to have been chosen to create shell condtruction companies whose sole raison d'etre is to construct these meaningless paved roads.While so called farm-to-market roads DO help outlying agricultural communities the building of a road to ring a huge under-developed lake or island is a ridiculous waste of the Filipino taxpayer's money.If there is no industrial base and absolutely no tourism industry why in the world would Basilan or Jolo Island need a nicely paved hiway to ring its entire girth?

The usual answer from the hip would be to enable the LGU (Local Government Unit) to deliver basic goods and services and to better enable development of these poorly served municipalities.However,no invvestor in their right mind is going to sink money into an insurgency wracked shi*hole like Basilan.The island has considerable natural resources,iron (from which Basilan derived its name),timber,rubber,pineapples and of course aquacultural endeavours like shellfish,pearls and seaweed.However the province only holds 7 municipalities and that includes 2 created within the last 4 years.You need to have a reason to connect these towns before bothering to connect them.

So it goes then that Cebu-based Mace Construction has spent the better part of the last year constructing and paving a single stretch of this sad and forlorn porkbarrel project.Unfortunately for Mace personnel that stretch happens to connect the municipalitiy of Mohammad Ajul with Lamitan City,the island's second largest municipality.Mohammad Ajul is one of those two new municipalities I had mentioned in my previous paragraph.Created out of the town of Tuburan Ajul's single industry is KFR,or Kidnap for Ransom.I wish that I could tell you that this degenerate claim can only be made of Mohammad Ajul but the sad fact of the matter is that 3 of the island's 7 towns subsist on this parasitic garbage,with the other 2 being:

1) Sumisip

2) Al Barka [sic].

At 3PM on Friday,June 3rd,2011 Project Engineer Virgilio Fernandez finished another wasted day's work and climbed into the cab of a mini-dump truck driven by fellow employee Basir Dasta.After a gaggle of labourers climbed into the truck's bed the group left Mohammad Ajul's Barangay Buton for the slow drive back to the company's base of operations in Lamitan City.For the past 14 months Mr.Fernandez had been renting a home in that city's Barangay Maganda along with most of his co-workers.Although security had been heavy as the project commenced personnel began acclimating to the island and so they slipped into regular,predictable routines.

As the truck entered the Lamitan City limits,in Barangay Bulanting's Sitio Libi,4 well armed men riding tandem on 2 motorcycles pulled their bikes nose to nose,blocking the width of the road.Seeing that the truck had no intention of stopping at that impromptu roadblock one of the four men pulled an M16 off of his back and shot out the truck's front left tire.Now having no choice in the matter Basir Dasta tried to control the truck as it slid down the unpaved road.2 of the gunmen rushed to the truck's passenger side door and dragged a startled Mr.Fernandez out and onto the ground.Roughly pushing him they managed to secure Fernandez onto the rear of 1 of the idling motorcycles as a gunman got on the rear,sandwiching his shocked captive between himself and the driver.

Very quickly the 2 motorcycles sped off taking Fernandez with them into Barangay Cadayyan,in the town of Akbar.As soon as the kidnappers had left Dasta drove off,heading directly to the Lamitan CPO (City Police Office).Not suprisingly the Lamitan PNP (Philippine National Police) were already apprised of the situation,as well they should be since most Basilan municipal PNP personnel directly profit off of the trade.In the PNP's defence the Lamitan CPO is in no way unique.The same situation can be found in Marawi City,Cotabato City,parts of Zamboanga City,and in towns like Kabuntalan in Maguindanao Province.This is one of (wo primary reasons why a captive's family will never go near the PNP when a loved one is kidnapped.The other reason of course is that the PNP is extremely poorly trained and is much more likely to maim or kill a vctim than to effect his or her rescue.At the CPO.Mr.Dasta and all his passengers quickly identified 2 of the gunmen from poster hanging fortuitously upon the wall.Both identified men are Abu Sayyaf gueriilas (no suprise there) and are also clan members of Abu Sayyaf factional leader Nurhassan Jamiri.Musana and Muhmin"Boy"Jamiri are known to reside with an ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) encampment in Sitio Penguew in the aformentioned barangay of Cadayyan in the municipality of Akbar.

Although the Jamiri Faction has dabbled in KFR it is usually the other leading ASG faction on Basilan,that of Puruji Indama,that focuses its energies on the trade.Jamiri's invvolvement may signal an upswing in Basileno and Zamboangan KFR as well as factional strife on Basilan.

That same day,Friday June 3rd,2011 in Marawi City,Lanao del Sur Province,Amirogong Tomara Jr.49,and his wife Aisha Kamid Tomara,45,of that city's Sitio Mapandi,Barangay Lilod Saduc decided to treat themselves to a take away lunch.Mr.Tomara,the COMELEC (Commission on Elections,the Philippine Electoral Authority) Commissioner for the municipality of Tuburan in that same province of Lanao del Sur (not to be confused with the municipality of the same name mentioned in reference to Basilan Province earlier in this entry) decided on a small cafe just a stone's throw from City Hall in Barangay Bangon.

Walking inside Mr.Tomara paid precious little attention to 2 young men who followed close behind.As he and his wife stood looking at the menu the two men pulled out 45 caliber pistols,each pointed at one of the victim's heads and in front of startled customers ordered the 2 to leave the building quickly.Outside the gunmen rapidly bundled the shocked couple into a waiting minivan and off the couple went,becoming just 2 more statistics in an over-burdened nation.

The couple's daughter,26 year old Norjaine Kamid Tomara,noted that shortly before the kidnapping her father's ex-wife (like many Filipino Muslims Mr.Tomara has been polygamous) had demanded a new house,new vehicle AND P1M (roughly US22,000).Mr.Tomara had denied her request and the woman reportedly then threatened to harm him.Interestingly noone is discussing the obvious angle;Lanao del Sur Province is one of five provinces comprising the ARMM,or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.Despite the best efforts of President Aquino to delay it the ARMM Elections are scheduled to take place this August,2011.The filing of COCs (Certificates of Candidacy) just finished and so we are in the midst of yet another bloody electoral season.In the 2010 Elections (National/Local,but not ARMM) a COMELEC Commissioner's son was kidnapped and held in order to try and have his father invalidate the electoral tallies in one Lanao del Sur municipality.

Originally taken to the town of Manai the captors soon moved the couple to the KFR group's main encampment in the municipality of Balindong.On Sunday,June 5th,while conducting Search and Rescue Operations in Balindong's Barangay Gacap in that same province,the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) encountered 12 members of the KFR organisation in question and a fierce firefight ensued.Though no casualties were incurred by either side the incident does not bode well since it indicates that the AFP is once again thrashing about like a proverbial bull in the china shoppe.

Kidnap for Ransom,Second Quarter of 2011,Part III: American Citizen Milton Strowell Taylor

Milton "Sam" Strowell Taylor, a 63 year old American retiree from Ohio was dreaming of a better life when he arrived on Mindanao in early December, 2010. Like a suprisingly large number of American vistors to the island Mr.Taylor came in search of...buried treasure. Beginning in the very late 1960s enterprising con artists and people of questionable character began manufacturing stories usually centering on buried Japanese Gold.

The usual spiel is that a horde of "Yamashita's Gold" has been found. General Tomoyuki"Tiger of Malaya"Yamashita raped and pillaged all over Southeast Asia before shipping all the gold and jewels he had "confiscated" to Manila by way of Singapore. Once in the Philippines the war took a turn for the worse and so as Yamashita began retreating ahead of Allied troops he began depositing cachets in out of the way places, for retrieval in better times. Unfotunately for the General, Japan got its as* handed to them and Yamashita was captured. Worse still, he was branded a War Criminal (I hate when that happens) and was put on trial. Predictably General Yamashita was found guilty and on February 23, 1946 he was executed at Los Banos Prison Camp in Metro Manila.

While Mindanao WAS occupied, AND brutalised, by the Japanese during WWII, Yamashita never touched its shores. His legendary fighting retreat took place in Luzon. This is well worth mentioning because Yamashita is the name most often attached to supposed cachets of gold bullion, silver ingots and nickel babbits that enterprising swindlers claim to have discovered. An interesting riff on the theme is an American payroll in the form of Bearer Bonds or T-Notes, en route to USAFE guerilla forces on the island, crashed into an interior mountainside. There the plane and its contents sat undisturbed in the primeval rainforest until its latent discovery by primitive tribesmen with no concept of money, or modern concerns. Personally I find the latter story more believable and therefore I am a bit confused as to why such scammers are perpetually recycling the "gold bullion" nonsense as opposed to the "payroll" tale.

It is believed that the dynamic began on Luzon, indeed the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos claimed to have actually located Yamashita's treasure (giving rise to another Urban Legend, "Marcos' Gold." However THIS claim has been largely disproved and rationalised as an alibi for the vast fortune Marcos squirreled away. A fitting sidenote to these Luzon-centric tales is that almost always they involve Negrito Tribesmen. Originally the Negritos were mostly innocent actors, manipulated and duped themselves into portraying the "discovers" of whatever treasure was being peddled. Before long the Negritos themselves wised up and soon negated the role of lowlander middlemen and brokers, directly controlling the scam. I find that information gratifying on a certain level because if any one group should profit from the misery of whitemen it should be those whose land has been stolen BY whites (and in this case EVERYONE BUT NEGRITOS THEMSELVES) and who until the present live so far below the poverty line as to be virtually invisible. Don't get me wrong, I think theft is reprehensible EVEN IF it is entirely driven by the greed of the victim. It is just that I can't help admiring an iota of poetic justice..,

On Mindanao the usual scam involves fake gold ingots. In a very amateurish fashion the thieves take thinly gold plated bars, usually with lead cores, and then pass them off to naïve treasure hunters. To understand how gullible victims are, as heavy as lead may be, it is not nearly as heavy as actual gold. To show it in an even more ridiculous fashion, one recent scam used gold plated aluminum ingots! Aluminum is many more times lighter than steel, which is itself STILL three times as light as pure gold! Yet, after a scratch test which always registers positive for gold, we see person, after person, after person getting conned out of their money.

Just a few weeks ago, on February 28, 2011 a couple in Davao City were lured into such a scam. Despicably it was the wife's own aunt who led them like lambs to the slaughter. Florentino and Mailyn Capuyan allowed themselves to stupidly follow the advice of Marilyn's aunt, Erlinda P.Fernandez. Fernandez knew that the couple were looking into investing their savings and so arranged for the them to get in on a "great deal." After a quick phone call by Marilyn's salivating auntie they were given an address and told to immediately proceed to the home of Inday Mansalita. Ms.Mansalita, a Lumad (member of a Hilltribe, usually Animist) was "brokering" the cachet "discovered by fellow Lumads. Probably trebling with excitement...AND GREED, the couple wasted no time in driving to Malibog District on the outskirts of Davao City and found the Mansalita home.

Having agreed, amazingly on the phone, to buy 1 ingot and a gold Buddha statue for P1.7M (roughly 33,000 US) Florentino intelligenty asked to test the goods before handing over the paperbag full of pesos. When he picked up the ingot, which was manufactured out of an aluminum core, he realised it wasn't genuine (gee, it FINALLY occurred to him) and refused to fork over six times the average annual Mindanowan salary. At that point Inday's 7 male friends popped out with bolos (machetes) and explained that IF the couple didn't want to buy the ingot and statue, that was their perogative. However, their money was staying. To add insult to injury Marilyn had her P6,000 watch, P32,000 worth of jewlery and her P2,500 cellphone taken as well. At least they lived to tell about it, and to charge all the players including Auntie Erlinda.

In kidnap victim Milton Strowell Taylor's case, he was spending months online, chatting up the bottom feeders lurking around treasure hunting websites. These sites are full of con artists and the fish they fry. One person spending a lot of time talking to Mr.Taylor was a man from Lanao del Norte Province. Finally taking the plunge this past December, 2010, Mr.Taylor flew into Cagayan del Oro City, in Misamis Oriental Province, just across the border from Lanao del Norte. Checking into room number 604 at a dive called "Lamar Inn," on the corner of Velez and JR Borja Streets, Mr.Taylor soon did his best to lose his life savings in record breaking time.

Registering as "Sam Taylor" he would spend his days meeting chatmates off of treasure hunting websites, trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. On Janurary 12, 2011 he met his "friend" from Lanao del Norte in front of a food stall near Divisoria Mall. The young man who presented himself was in the company of a second man whom he identified as a family member who would be driving them to a promising site. Innocently the very gullible Mr.Taylor joined his 2 new associates for a ride to what he believed would be the municipality of Opol in that same province, Misamis Oriental. Imagine his suprise then when the SUV pulled into the parking lot of a mall in Iligan City, in Lanao del Norte Province. Imagine how much more suprised Mr.Taylor was when told that they would now have to switch vehicles...and oooops, "here's a blindfold to protect my "treasure's" location."

Fast forward to February 11. Mr.Taylor's loving wife back in Ohio notified the US Embassy in Manilla that her husband just phoned her to inform her that he'd been kidnapped and that his captors were threatening to kill him unless their Ransom demand of P10 Million (roughly 225,000 US) was paid promptly. The Embassy, following SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) notified the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation, the top echelon of US Law Enforcement and the entity responsible for Americans victimised by crime in foreign nations). The FBI naturally contacted the Cagayan del Oro Police and lo and behold...What does the Cagayan del Oro PNP (Philippine National Police) do? They accuse Mr.Taylor of simply absconding to avoid having to pay a steep hotel bill. The Police Department's Chief, Sr.Supt.Antonio Montalba, reveals his ineptitude and crass unprofessionalism by badmouthing a man he knows nothing about. Making him look even more retarded is the fact that Mr.Taylor's passport was sitting in his room. How many foreigners are going to flee without their passports? A foreigner is unable to board a plane or a ferry without that crucial document. Unless one is aiming to spend the rest of his life growing yams while living in a nipa (bamboo framed thatched hut) they wouldn't be leaving THAT when trying to sneak out on a hotel bill.

How much was this huge bill anyway? It turns out that indeed, by Phillipine standards it was a very expencive tab. The total was P29,100 (roughly 690 US). One needs to understand that 690 US Dollars isn't a lot of money in the United States. The average monthly rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in New York City is close to 2,000 US Dollars. Therefore EVEN IF Mr.Taylor had been carrying his passport, as indeed foreigners always should (it is actually against the law not to do so), why would anyone with the slightest degree of sophistication imagine that person had decided to commit a major crime over such an insubstantial sum of money? One can easily understand why Mayor Emano finds his Chief of Police to be so disgusting.

By March Mr.Taylor's captors had realised that far from popular belief, not ALL Americans had cash puring out of their orifices. The kidnappers, guerillas from the MILF's 102 Base Command, lowered their initial demand of P10M to P300,000 (roughly 6,600 US) and still negotiations continued. After the requsite Proof of Life Videos (whatever happened to Polaroid snapshots of a victim holding a current newspaper) talks progressed more rapidly. At the end of March the negotiators settled on a measly P100,000 (roughly 2,200 US), or what is euphamistically known as a "Lodging Fee," to cover the victim's "Room and Board." At least that was the amount revealed in the media. The actual fee was P2 Million Pesos (roughly 44,000 US).

As a rule of thumb Philippine Authorities never publicly reveal Ransom details. At best they admit to a relatively paltry sum and play it off as the afore mentioned "Lodging" fee, as if victims ate 100,000 Pesos worth of boiled white rice and dried fish over the course of 2 months. In fact, intelligent people never notify the authorities when a loved one is kidnapped. Publicity mearely makes the captive more lucrative and drives up the Ransom. Often enough it is the local officials themselves, including local PNP (Philippine National Police) that have orchestrated the kidnappings. As I mentioned in a First Quarter 2011 entry on Kidnapping, a whole roster of local officials in Cotabato City have been charged in the Tsinoy (Chinese-Filipinos) Kidnappings that have plagued the city over the last 3 decades. None other than that municipality's local warlord, Vice Mayor Muslamin Sema found himself being criminally charged.

Mr.Taylor however can now try and put the whole sordid affair behind him. On April 4th, 2011 on the borders of Balo- and Marawi City, Lanao del Sur Province, the MILF handed a gaunt and pale Mr.Taylor to a slew of local officials led by Marawi's mayor who himself has been fingered (but not charged) in a rash of kidnappings affecting that part of yje island. Taken to Amai Pakpak Hospital in Marawi City for the requisite once over, he was then driven to Cagayan del Oro City for the (likewise) requisite photo opportunity in Mayor Emano's office. After the cameras were turned off the FBI took custody of a bewildered Mr.Taylor, poorer but at least alive.