kidnap – marichulambino.com

Photo by Peter Hendrie, Lonely Planet Collection. Bus on Country Road Samoa. Used here for educational, non-commercial purposes, free service by blog-use of image provided by and from www.allposters.com Lonely Planet Collection.

He was a hostage-taker who had no demands. He did not ask for money, he did not ask for freedom, he did not ask for better living conditions, he did not ask to see anyone. Rey Digo took the a Bataan-bound bus yesterday armed with a handgun, took out his gun and, according to the police, started firing randomly. The police said he had killed one passenger and wounded another. After five hours of negotiations, the police said there was a “grappling for the gun”, a shot rang and the hostage-taker was dead. Police later said they decided to end it because it was getting dark and “the situation was getting more dangerous”.

Had he lived, the paperwork typed up against him would be for “serious illegal detention”, a capital offense, and murder or homicide depending on the circumstances. Depriving a woman, a child, or a public officer, of her/ his/her liberty, even for just a few hours or an hour or moments, constitutes the following crime:

“Revised Penal Code. Art. 267. Kidnapping and serious illegal detention. – Any private individual who shall kidnap or detain another or in any manner deprive him of his liberty shall suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death:

1.If the kidnapping or detention shall have lasted more than five days.

2.If it shall have been committed simulating public authority.

3. If any serious physical injuries shall have been inflicted upon the person kidnapped or detained; or if threats to kill him shall have been made.

4.If the person kidnapped shall be a minor, female, or public officer.

The penalty shall be death where the kidnapping or detention was committed for the purpose of extorting ransom from the victim or any other person, even if none of the circumstances abovementioned were present in the commission of the offense.”

Justice Ramon Aquino, “The Revised Penal Code”: quote “Republic Act No. 18 passed in 1946 amended Art. 267 by reducing the minimum detention to five days and including the detention of a minor, a female person, and a public officer among the forms of serious illegal detention. The purpose was to check the rampant kidnappings of children, women, and public officials after the war. XXXX”

Whether the amount of force used by the police was commensurate to the danger the suspect posed and the objective of saving lives and bringing the suspect to justice, depends on the truth of the statements from the police: the firearm, the shooting, the grappling.

“Nandito ako sa departure area, may kumuha sa akin” (i’m here at the departure area, some people took me away”) was one of the last text messages that witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada was able to send his brother an hour ago.

They took him; spirited away by “unknown men” when he stepped on the tarmac of the NAIA (airport) an hour ago; these men are powerful enough or have enough authorization to be standing at the airport tarmac waiting for him. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada is now being denied access to his own cellphone, is being deprived of his liberty, held against his will, his family members interviewed on DZMM are looking for him, the Senate security members who were supposed to take him into custody on the strength of a Senate arrest warrant, are looking for him and, if DZMM reports are accurate, presently chasing the vehicle that whisked him away.

Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada is a technical consultant on IT matters of then NEDA secretary-general Romulo Neri. A couple of years ago, Mr. Neri asked him to assist him in evaluating the ZTE contract and in which capacity he joined the trips to China. If the information of Joey de Venecia is accurate, he has direct and personal knowledge of how $200 million in commissions changed hands during the contract- negotiation of the ZTE broadband deal. He left for Hongkong or London last week and came back today.

His passage thru the airport was under the supervision of General Angel Atutubo, Deputy Chief of airport security. According to witnesses, he was the person last seen with Mr. Lozada.

What is the number of General Atutubo and if true, upon whose orders was Mr. Lozada taken? Is Atutubo still part of the AFP command structure and therefore under the command of Esperon or, being airport security and civilian, is he under the control and supervision of the Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Customs?

If the reports are true, those who have custody of Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada against his will and all those who ordered this operation , if private persons or non-police, are presently committing or can be charged with illegal detention or, if accompanied with threats against the life of the person ,kidnapping; grave coercion; obstruction of justice. If those who have custodyof him against his will are public officers, they can be charged with arbitrary detention, grave coercion, obstruction of justice.

Surface Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and return him to his family now.

(family members and friends of Mr. Lozada who may have any contacts in the airport security staff or the PSG or immigration: Now is the time to use those contacts and activate a silent search; the longer it takes, the more remote the probability becomes of locating the person. The legal remedy is to immediately execute affidavits, for those who last communicated with Mr. Lozada or those who last saw him, stating the facts and the persons who have control and supervision of his passage thru the airport; and file a petition for the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus before a Pasay city court, or the CA or the SC, naming those persons who have control of his passage thru the airport, and all their superiors and principal; then talk to the executive judge or the Clerk of Court on the urgency of the matter so it could be calendared and heard on the same day tomorrow. The Senate, which issued the warrant of arrest on the other hand can try locate the persons last seen with Mr. Lozada, e.g., airport security, and ask them to surface the witness; if the Senate security has reasonable ground to believe that he is being kept in any enclosure, they can use reasonable force to break into such enclosure to effect the arrest and take custody of Mr. Lozada.)