Kidnappings, scams, gambling

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

First, it was a Chinese teenager who was kidnapped and whose finger was chopped off; the family driver was found dead, murdered in cold blood the day after the student went missing; police eventually found the victim on an abandoned road in Parañaque but failed to arrest the kidnappers.

Months later, kidnappers — believed to be the same syndicate — snatched their next victim, this time a prominent Filipino-Chinese businessman who was kidnapped while dining in a seafood restaurant somewhere near Manila Bay, as reported by Bilyonaryo.

This is not some edge-of-your-seat Netflix series, but real life here in the Philippines at the start of 2025.

InsiderPH said the businessman's family has reportedly paid the ransom but the victim has yet to be released — as of this writing.

A source told me that initially, the ransom being asked from the businessman's family was $20 million. It was the same amount demanded for the release of the kidnapped student, before it was reportedly lowered to $1 million.

Are kidnap-for-ransom activities making a comeback?

These could be remnants of the POGO or Philippine offshore gaming operators era where some illegal entities have been associated with criminal activities such as kidnappings, tortures and scams.

During a press conference after the release of the kidnapped Chinese student last February, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the kidnapped student comes from a family of former POGO owners.

They also believe that POGO operators — and not Filipino syndicates — were behind the kidnapping.