KFR cases rise by 50% — Ang-See

03/31/2009

Civilian anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See yesterday disclosed that kidnap for ransom (KFR) cases increased by more than 50 per cent this year as compared to last two years.

Ang-See, head of the Citizen’s Action Against Crime and Corruption during a weekly forum Kapihan sa Manila Hotel revealed that based on their records for first quarter alone, they have tallied a total of 40 KFR incidents in the country, within the first quarter alone, compared to 2006 and 2007 which hit 43 percent for the whole year.

“It seems that they had come back with a vengeance,” See noted.

See said that the remnants of the previous kidnapping groups might be “hungry” for easy money for lying low within the past few years where police neutralization is strict.

“The suspects are not necessarily stricken by poverty, but they only want easy money,” she added.

See disclosed that there are more Filipinos victimized this year as compared in the past few years when majority of the victims were Filipino-Chinese, adding that Filipinos have given bigger ransom payments than the Filipino-Chinese this year.

Apart from Filipinos and Chinoys other victims are Pakistanis, Koreans, Indians and Italians, See stressed.

Meanwhile, William Ho, chairman of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order, said that the most of the usual “tipsters” have worked for the victims and know about their financial background. Sharing their experience, when his wife was kidnapped, he said the tipster was his former driver.

“That’s why we have to be vigilant. We have to know who we hire,” Ho said.

See also said that kidnap for ransom groups have now become more intelligent since they are using different techniques.

“The usual technique is that they have to get the payment quickly because they know that the longer the period of the dealings, the easier for them to get tracked by police,” Ang-See said.

For his part, National Capital Region Police Office head, Director Leopoldo Bataoil said that since crime has gone down by 13.22 percent within Metro Manila, they would refocus their efforts to eliminate the looming problem on kidnapping incidents.

“I am aware that there is still room for improvement but, with these security systems in place, we hope that crime will decrease. Right now, we have to focus our attention on KFR cases,” said Bataoil. Pat C. Santos

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