Fidal Ramos orders hunt for abductors

Fidal Ramos orders hunt for abductors

MANILA (Reuter): President Fidel Ramos yesterday ordered a
manhunt for kidnappers of a wealthy Filipino-Chinese architect
seized by gunmen in a Manila street three days ago, the
presidential palace said.

Manila newspapers said yesterday the kidnap gang had freed the
victim, Gilbert Yu, after his family paid a ransom of 10 million
pesos (US$385,000) but a palace news release said police were
still verifying the report.

Newspapers said Yu was released in nearby Bulacan province on
Friday after one day in captivity.

Ramos directed the armed forces and the national police to
intensify the hunt for the gang, the palace said.

Police said they were having difficulty investigating the case
because the Yu family refused to cooperate.

Families of kidnap victims generally refuse to talk to police
because of suspicion that many policemen and soldiers are either
members of the gangs or their protectors.

In several cases involving prominent businessmen, families
deny that they had been kidnapped, usually telling media the
victims were out of town.

An official of Yu's architectural firm in Manila said on the
day he was kidnapped on Thursday that the architect was in Japan
on a business mission.

The palace press release was the first official confirmation
of Yu's abduction.

Yu was being fetched by his wife and two children from the
airport after he returned from Hong Kong when gunmen in a van
blocked their way and snatched him, the palace said. Yu's driver
was shot in the face while his family were unharmed, it said.

Kidnap gangs in 1995 collected $4.3 million from families of
199 people they abducted during the year, a citizens anti-crime
watch group said. This did not include many other cases where
ransom payments were not known, it said.