THE Chinese Embassy in Manila last Monday, September 12, 2022, Philippine authorities to immediately look into, and take action, on the rising number of kidnapping and abduction cases where most victims are Chinese nationals.
The embassy, headed by His Excellency Huang Xilian, in a statement to the media, said it formally lodged the concern “to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens” after checking and verifying “specific cases” and consultations with the Filipino-Chinese community.
During the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, one of the areas the two sides agreed to work closely is law enforcement with special emphasis on transnational crimes such as drug trafficking and arrest of criminals and the protection of their respective citizens.
Along this line, the embassy called on the concerned Philippine agencies to “strengthen our law enforcement cooperation and (launch a) crackdown on kidnapping, blackmailing, illegal detention, and other criminal acts” targeting Chinese citizens
Senate probe
At the Senate, the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Sen.
Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, announced it has initialed a hearing on September 15, 2022, on the “kidnapping wave” that is sweeping the country that has victimized not only other nationals but also Filipinos and which created “a state of fear, anxiety and vulnerability among Filipinos,” according to Senate Resolution 195 filed by Sen. Grace Poe also last September 12, 2022.
The hearing also seeks to validate the truth behind the proliferation of video clips showing actual cases of abduction and of victims shown while being tortured by their captors.
The resolution also took note of the conflicting data on abduction cases of the Philippine National Police (PNP) headed now by Chief PNP P/Lt. General Rodolfo Azurin Jr., compared to the number of incidents being gathered by civic and business groups.
The resolution noted that according to PNP deputy director for administration, P/Lt. General Jose Chiquito Malayo, they have only four reported cases of abduction since the start of the year even while the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) had noted a “25 percent increase” in the number of kidnapping and abduction cases mostly involving ‘POGO’ (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations) workers or a total of 27 cases from January to the start of this month of September.
But even the high figure cited by the PNP-AKG is a far count from the monitoring done by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), which had tallied 56 cases happening in the last 10 days, according to PCCI president Lugene Ang, who is of Chinese descent, as quoted by ABS-CBN in its article dated September 6, 2022.
Suspects in grim video killing charged for illegal gambling?
With the country’s peace and order situation appearing to be fast deteriorating under Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a 30-seconds video showing the killing of 2 Chinese nationals inside a condominium in Parañaque City last July 22, 2022, gave an indication as to why crimes involving Chinese nationals are on the rise.
The video showed several Chinese nationals with Filipino bodyguards apparently quarreling among themselves.
As one of the victims was shown drawing a handgun, a shot rang out that felled him down while the other victim was also shown being shot at close range. As the second victim fell, he was also shown being repeatedly stabbed by another Chinese national.
Allegedly, the killing was premeditated over the issue of unpaid “investment money” involving the victims and the suspects, according to another social media thread.
From the report to higher headquarters of Parañaque City Police chief, P/Col. Maximo Sebastian right after the incident, one of the victims was identified thru her Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) as Zhao Xialong, 30, who was born in mainland China, while the other fatality was yet to be identified at the time of Sebastian’s report.
The incident happened past 7:00 am at the 20th floor, Room A2008, Marina Sea View Residences, Marina Bay, Don Galo, Parañaque City.
Two Filipino suspects have been identified, King Agbulos Lee, who remained at large at the time of Sebastian’s report and, Jeffrey Arandia Orlanes, who was traced at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay City while undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound.
Curiously, not one Chinese national, the employer of the two and who believed the one shown stabbing Zhao, was charged for the crimes.
Instead, the report further noted that as some of the Chinese suspects had fled to the 5th floor of the condominium, the police conducted a search where they found 4 Chinese and 2 Filipinos while playing mahjong in one of the rooms.
The police rounded up the group and charged them for violation of PD 1602 or illegal gambling while the alleged gambling money totaling P448,000, mahjong sets and other paraphernalia were also seized as evidence.