Victim escapes; 5 arrested

A businessman in Camarines Sur escaped from his alleged kidnappers and was safely recovered by the police last week.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald Dela Rosa presented Monday the five suspects, who included a barangay chairman.

The suspects are Gerry Mancera, barangay captain of Ba- ranggay Maninila, Camalig, Albay; Jefferson Cuachin; Prudencio Ruiz; Joven Ortiz; and Cesar Garcia.

Dela Rosa said operatives of the Anti-kidnapping Group conducted on March 6 an operation that led to a shootout in Sitio Nabuntugan, Banga Caves, Ragay, Camarines Sur, where the ransom payoff was supposed to take place. One of the suspects, Or- tiz, was captured after the shootout.

Through Ortiz, police entrapped the other suspects who revealed that victim Francis Leo Sta. Maria Maulion was in the mountainous area of Pasacao-Libmanan, Camarines Sur.

Dela Rosa said residents corroborated this information and said an unidentified person in handcuffs was seen in the area.

“A police operation was immediately conducted and early in the morning of the following day, Maulion was safely recovered. The victim disclosed that he was able to escape from his guards,” Dela Rosa said Dela Rosa.

Maulion was allegedly detained in the house of Mancera, the barangay chairman. Mancera denied involvement in the crime, saying he was not aware that Maulion was a kidnap victim.

Maulion said the suspects forcibly took him from his farm in Baranggay Kamuning, Calabanga, Camarines Sur on November 23, 2016 and asked for ransom money from his family for his release. The victim also owns a bakery and a gasoline station.

Recovered from the police operation were assorted firearms and ammunition as well as the ransom money amounting to P1.2 million.