Taiwan teenager abducted in RP

Taiwan teenager abducted in RP

MANILA (Reuter): Kidnappers have seized a teenage son of an
official of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the
Philippines and demanded a ransom of 15 million pesos
(US$580,000), a Manila newspaper said yesterday.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, quoting an unnamed source, said
the teenager was abducted last Thursday near the gate of the
International School in Manila's Makati financial district, where
children of many foreign diplomats and businessmen study.

There was no official confirmation of the report. "We have not
received any report about it," Sgt. Leonardo Timtiman of the
Makati police said by telephone.

Families of kidnap victims in the Philippines generally refuse
to cooperate with police because of widespread suspicion that
policemen themselves are either members of kidnap gangs or their
protectors.

Kidnap gangs last year abducted 199 people around the country,
many of them sons of rich Filipino-Chinese businessmen, and
collected at least $4.3 million in ransom.