
Kudos to team PNP-AKG for a job well done
I’M referring to officers and men of the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping or the Team AKG which is silently doing its job to address threats posed by kidnapping gangs in the country while ensuring the certainty of punishment for arrested kidnappers.
Now headed by Colonel Elmer Ragay, one of the top graduates of PNP Academy ‘Patnubay’ Class of 1995, the PNP-AKG is continuing an aggressive effort ordered by PNP chief General Rommel Marbil to account for all wanted kidnappers and smash kidnapping-for-ransom gangs including emerging ones.
Col. Ragay is no stranger to the PNP-AKG since he used to be one of its key officials when the unit was still called the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response or PACER then headed by my friend, retired Police General and now Undersecretary for Police Affairs Attorney Isagani ‘Gani’ Nerez of Philippine Military Academy ‘Maharlika’ Class of 1984.
Unknown to many, solid testimonies give to court by PNP-AKG officers have led to the conviction of many notorious KFR members. On Friday, three of them identified as Ramil Macamay, Ricende Padillo and Rodante Cabaylo were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 223 for the 2013 kidnapping of businesswoman Sally Chua who was rescued in Davao City following a police operation that left three of her abductors dead.
After more than a decade of trial, Judge Caridad 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 DOJ Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olive Torrevillas after the verdict was read. She added that Chua ‘was very happy as justice was finally served.’
Credit to the conviction of the three goes to Team AKG, the Team DOJ and the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order whose officers continue to provide support to kidnapping victims who have agreed to ‘show their faces’ in order to seek the conviction of their abductors. Indeed, solid government and community partnership is key to true justice in our country.
As the main PNP unit tasked to conduct police operations and investigations on kidnapping and hostage situations involving organized crime and terror groups in the country, the PNP-AKG is literally not ‘sleeping in its job.’
As it continues to strengthen its operational and investigative capabilities, the PNP-AKG really has established itself as a leading police force in the fight against kidnapping as proven by the safe rescue of countless victims and the arrest and conviction of many perpetrators past and present.
However, the PNP-AKG also needs the unwavering support of all concerned government agencies and the citizenry as it fight culprits, including rogue POGO operators and their henchmen who continue to devise new methods to carry out their crimes. It also needs to maintain its vigilance and really keep its keep its strategies and tactics ahead of criminal elements.
However, amid the PNP’s continuing effort to invest in training and technology, enhance the training of its personnel and strengthen its partnership with its external audience, I really agree with suggestions that the organization must ‘not telegraph its punches.’
I refer to the need to unwittingly divulge or indicate its next move, say a plan to bid new equipment which really could give its ‘Enemies’ the very big opportunity of finding out how they can counter such machine in the future.
Since its establishment in 2012, the PNP-AKG really has made significant contributions to the PNP’s efforts to prevent and solve kidnapping cases and credit must be given to its team of skilled and dedicated personnel.
This month alone, PNP-AKG operatives have arrested eight suspects in three separate abduction cases in the country following operations which also led in the rescue of two victims. Under the leadership of Col. Ragay, the AKG Luzon Field Unit headed by Col. Jeff Fanged launched those operations.
Five of the suspects were arrested in a series of follow-up operations in Northern Luzon triggered by the kidnapping of a 59-year old businessman from San Fabian, Pangasinan and his office caretaker last Wednesday.
One of the suspects posed as a ‘buyer’ of a lot being offered for sale by one of the victims. When they met in person, the suspects seized the two and later demanded P50 million from the businessman’s wife in exchange for his safe release.
The PNP-AKG, after being informed of the incident fully coordinated their follow-up operations with the Cordillera Police Regional Office headed by Brigadier Gen. David Peredo and the Police Regional Office 1 under Brig. Gen. Lou Evangelista leading to the arrest of three of the suspect and the rescue of the victims while on board a wagon in Bokod, Benguet last Thursday afternoon.
A follow-up operation also resulted in the arrest of two other suspects in Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya. Recovered from the suspects were several high-powered firearms and dozens of live ammunition.
PNP-AKG operatives also rescued a kidnapped Chinese national and arrested one of the kidnappers who turned out to be a compatriot of the victim last January 13 in Imus City, Cavite.
The victim, a restaurant owner in Clark Freeport Zone was abducted while on her way home. A follow-up operation by the AKG-LFU led in the capture of one of the suspects identified as 39-year-old Wiejiang Xie.
I learned that the Pinoy accomplices of the Chinese kidnappers were posing as ‘policemen’ and armed with high-powered guns and even wearing PNP uniforms. This should be another main concern by the PNP amid the monitored presence of banned POGO operators who have ‘splintered’ into much smaller groups in the country.
Last January 9, the PNP-AKG also arrested a Chinese national and his Filipino pal accused of involvement in the kidnapping of a 22-year old female Chinese national shortly after her arrival in Manila two days earlier.
The kidnappers forced the victim to undress and photographed her in the nude and later withdraw 737,516 RMB from her bank account and even got a US20,000 loan from her bank. A follow-up operation led in the arrest of the Chinese suspect identified as ‘Dongdong So’ and his Pinoy companion.