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.