Chua kidnappers convicted
MORE than 11 years after she was kidnapped inside her Quezon City store, businesswoman Sally Vergara-Chua got the justice she had long been waiting for after a Q.C. judge sentenced three of her kidnappers to life imprisonment without eligibility of parole last Friday.
The conviction of Ramil Macamay, Ricende Padillo and Rodante Cabaylo was the result of the solid partnership between the Department of Justice Anti-Kidnapping Task Force, the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group and the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order, officials said.
This as the three accused were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt by Judge Caridad M. Walse-Lutero of the Q.C. Regional Trial Court Branch 223 for the July 5, 2013 kidnapping-for-ransom of Vergara-Chua.
The MRPO chaired by Melvin Dy described the court decision as a ‘triumph of justice.’
The KFR case filed against the three suspects was initially assigned to the Q.C. RTC Branch 97 but was re-raffled and assigned to he sala of Judge Walse-Lutero.
Solid testimonies given to court by PNP-AKG investigators as well as witnesses led by the victim led to the successful prosecution of the suspects.
Major credit was also given to the good work done by the DOJ Anti-Kidnapping Task Force led by DOJ Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia L. Torrrevillas after more than a decade of trial, Judge Walse-Lutero found all accused guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole.
The three were also ordered to each pay P300,000 in civil and moral damages to the victim whose family was asked by the kidnappers to initially produce P150 million ransom but later reduced it to P15 million.
“We delivered justice in the Sally Chua KFR case. This is one of the positive results of the DOJ Task Force and PNP-AKG partnership,” said Attorney Torrevillas after the verdict was read. She added that Chua ‘was very happy as justice was finally served.’
Records showed that Chua was inside their store in Q.C. when six unidentified armed men suddenly appeared and abducted her using a white Mitsubishi Montero as their getaway vehicle.
On the same day, the victim’s husband Wilfred received text messages from the kidnappers informing him that his wife was in their custody and would be only released in exchange for a ransom.
The man bargained to reduce the ransom demand until the kidnappers finally accepted the offer and instructed him to deposit the money to an Allied Bank branch in Q.C.
Chua’s husband, in coordination with the bank manager, facilitated the transaction on July 10, 2013.
The kidnappers and Mr. Chua later agreed to withdraw the money at the Allied Bank branch in Davao City the following day. Unknown to the kidnappers, undercover PNP-AKG agents were deployed inside the bank.
The policemen eventually rescued the victim unharmed and arrested Macamay. Three of the kidnappers who were watching from the outside of the bank exchanged fire with officers to arrest them triggering a gunbattle that left them dead.
The three identified as Ediberto Apari, Darrel Montejo and one alias ‘Yoyong’ all died on the spot.
The Chua KFR case was later filed at the Q.C. RTC where Macamay and his co-accused Padillo and Cabaylo who were arrested in follow-up operations filed their respective petitions for bail which were all denied by the court on July 13, 2016.
Apart from the PNP-AKG now headed by Colonel Elmer E. Ragay and the DOJ Task Force on Anti-Kidnapping, MRPO officers and men have played a solid role in providing support to kidnapping victims like Chua who have agreed to ‘show their faces’ in order to seek the conviction of their abductors.
PNP chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil has ordered the PNP-AKG to continue doing its job to address threats posed by kidnapping gangs in the country while ensuring the certainty of punishment for arrested kidnappers.
“It took 12 years for the case (to roll) amid the various legal remedies exerted by the accused. But we were confident all the accused will be convicted,” Atty. Torevillas said, adding that Chua, who was present at the announcement of the verdict, was ‘very happy as justice was finally served.”
