A Chinese and Taiwanese, who are both POGO employees, were rescued by the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) after they were allegedly abducted by six Chinese and a Filipino cohort in two separate kidnapping incidents in Makati City, a police official reported Friday.
Taiwanese Shih Su Yuan, 36, and Chinese Chen Liyong, 26, were rescued by the operatives after they were abducted in Guadalupe district and Barangay Carmona, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Leo Canuel, deputy chief of the AKG Luzon Field Unit (LFU).
Police identified the suspects were identified as Teng Sheng, Li Jing Zhang, Huang Yu Long, Zhao Shi Guang, and Jiang Wei; and Yang Zhen and his Filipino cohort, Sergio Busego Jr.
Canuel said the rising number of abduction cases involving foreign POGO employees has already reached an “alarming rate.”
“Alarming na kasi halos wala na kaming nahuhuling Pinoy, puro Chinese na involved sa POGO na,” Canuel told reporters at the AKG office in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
According to Canuel, Shih arrived in the country about two to three months ago and became part of a POGO firm in Makati City.
However, he decided to leave the firm after he found out that the work that he agreed upon in the contract — which was as computer operator — turned out to be different as he worked as a janitor.
However, Canuel said the suspects — Teng, Li, Huang, Zhao and Jiang — refused to let him go until they abducted him on Thursday, January 2. Shih told operatives that he was held captive at the dorm of the suspects on Camino Street in Guadalupe since 1 p.m. Thursday.
The suspects then contacted Shih’s family in Taiwan where they allegedly demanded 100,000 renminbi (RMB) or around P732,2000 as ransom money, Canuel said.
However, Shih’s family coordinated with the Taiwan TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office) which alerted the AKG about the incident.
The operatives rescued Shih at around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday while the five suspects were arrested after they were found in the dormitory.
Shih was rushed to the PNP General Hospital after he vomited blood. Canuel said the victim was repeatedly hit by the suspects with a pipe. Shih was already in a stable condition.
The suspects were charged with violation of Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code or kidnapping/serious illegal detention.
CHEN’S EMAIL
Meanwhile, Canuel said it was through Chen’s email account to the AKG that saved him from his alleged abductor, Yang, and his Filipino cohort, Busego.
According to Canuel, they received an email from Chen on December 29, 2019 that he has been held captive by Yang, a fellow POGO employee, for 20 days already.
Canuel said Chen became a POGO employee in another firm in Makati City several months ago. However, his Chinese boss, was not satisfied of his work and always demanded more from him, prompting the victim to file a resignation.
However, the boss did not allow him to leave and ordered Yang to abduct the victim on December 10. Chen was held captive in a condominium unit in Barangay Carmona.
Yang then transacted with the family of Chen in China where, upon the orders of the boss, he asked for 50,000 RMB or about P36,600 for ransom money.
Chen’s family, however, reported the incident to China police and it turned out that the victim’s sibling has an access to his email account.
With the help of China police, Chen’s sibling then emailed the AKG to ask for help, which led to an operation around 3:20 p.m. of December 29 that resulted in the safe rescue of the victim.
The operatives then arrested Busego, the security guard who was tasked to secure Chen, and, in a follow-up operation, Yang.
However, the operatives failed to locate the Chinese boss who is now the subject of a manhunt operation. The identity of the Chinese boss was withheld so as not to jeopardize the continuing operations.
Both Yang and Busego were charged with violation of Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code or kidnapping/serious illegal detention. (Martin A. Sadongdong)