From PCIJ:
A LEADING risk consultancy group has tagged the Philippines as Asia’s kidnaping hotspot and blamed the unchecked kidnapings on what it said was the Arroyo administration’s failure to address the weak rule of law, rampant corruption and ineffective law enforcement.
An Agence France Presse story quoted the annual report of the Pacific Strategies and Assessments on kidnaping in the Philippines as saying the number of actual kidnapings in 2005 was about three times the official figure and security analysts estimated that cases occur about every three days.
A total of 44 kidnaping incidents were reported to law enforcement agencies last year, a 50 percent increase over 2004, but the vast majority still go unreported, the PSA said.
The anti-crime NGO Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order, which has been monitoring kidnapings since 1992, said the country is seeing one of the worst periods in kidnaping history.
There have been seven recent abductions in four weeks — four in late February and three in the first two weeks of March, according to MRPO spokesman Teresita Ang See.
Malacañang has however debunked the PSA report, saying it overlooked the achievements of the Arroyo administration in the anti-kidnapping campaign.
“Our drive to dismantle these kidnap syndicates has been pursued without letup, with solid cooperation from both the victims’ kin and the public as a whole,” claimed Ignacio Bunye, press secretary and presidential spokesman.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) also disagreed with the report’s findings. Police spokesman Senior Supt. Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. insisted that their efforts have trimmed down cases of abductions to “manageable levels.”
Ang See, though, reiterated the MRPO’s position that both government and nongovernment agencies move away from quibbling over numbers and address the resurgence of kidnapings.
The anti-crime advocate also lamented that President Arroyo has been kept in the dark about the kidnaping situation, saying selected Chinese-Filipino businessmen she met recently were not bold enough to tell her the real score. Ang See was not invited to the meeting with Arroyo.
The MRPO reported that a growing number of victims hesitate to cooperate with police authorities due to the involvement of active-duty police officers in recent cases. It also described Arroyo’s decision to grant another 90-day reprieve to a convicted kidnaper on death raw and certify as urgent a bill seeking the repeal of the death penalty law as a big setback to the anti-kidnaping campaign.
The MRPO, however, corrected the PSA report stating that Chinese Filipinos control 60 to 70 percent of the country’s wealth. It said Tsinoys at most contribute 30 percent of the economy. The MRPO cautioned against reports citing inaccurate data which, it said, could lead to erroneous conclusions and lead to further victimization.
The PSA said Chinese-Filipinos remain the most prominent ethnic group to be kidnaped, accounting for slightly more than a third percent of all kidnapings in the past three years.
“As a close-knit society, Chinese-Filipinos generally make attractive targets because they rarely involve police officials in the negotiation phase and they tend to pay ransom demands quickly,” the report said.
The report said the PNP’s Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) division had been active in infiltrating the kidnap syndicates but added: “With the Philippine economy struggling and the potential for relatively large ransoms, it is fairly easy for syndicates to recruit new members.”
UPDATE:From scud_1975:
simple lang daw benigno..kung wala daw kasi si GMA sa pwesto, wala daw sanang kidnapping at smuggling. Just bow your head na lang =)
to say that the arroyo admin cannot be held responsible for the recent resurgence in kidnapping is just plain dumb.
kung malakas rin ang kidnapping sa panahon ni erap, then his admin should be held responsible for it too (although one of the few things the erap admin was successful in was in going after the kidnappers and reducing kidnapping to minimal levels... so much so that the chinese community loved erap and lacson for their success.)
the arroyo admin OTOH, have resorted to fudging/doctoring the kidnapping numbers to present a false facade of "peace and order" to the public.
and since 2003, it has imposed a news blackout on the media on all the kidnapping cases--not so much they care about the victims privacy or welfare, but more because every reported kidnapping is bad PR for arroyo.
at least during erap's time, there was no media blackout on kidnapping cases to suppress those types of "bad news" from being reported by the media. and they didn't have to, did they... since they were so successful in reducing kidnapping in the country during that time.
Here's the article on Malacanang calling for a news blackout in 2002 on the rampant kidnappings in manila.
Take note, the erap admin never resorted to a news blackout on the daily kidnappings in metro manila. And why should they impose one? Isn't it better for the public to know the details of the abduction at malaman yung basic information ng biktima -- like her name, her photo, where she was abducted, description of the kidnappers, description and plate number of the kidnappers vehicle -- so that anyone who has information or has seen the persons fitting the kidnappers description --can immediately contact the local authorities?
hindi ba ganyan ang "amber alert" sa US? get the basic information out so that the public can help in looking for abducted children?
What is the AMBER Plan?
The AMBER Plan is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies and broadcasters to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases.
Broadcasters use the Emergency Alert System (EAS), formerly called the Emergency Broadcast System, to air a description of the missing child and suspected abductor.
How does it work?
Upon receipt of an Amber Alert from Law Enforcement Authorities anywhere in the world, day or night, the CodeAmber ticker will be updated immediately on our server.
During an Amber Alert all of the relevant details provided by the reporting Authority will be scrolled in the Code Amber ticker window.
The information will include the location of the abduction and contact information for the reporting Authority as well as links (if available) to images of the abductee, suspect composites and any other details provided by the reporting Authority.
Of course, the media should not give out any details on any sensitive police operations to rescue the victim, but i don't see anything wrong with the media releasing helpful info on the kidnapping case.
But for the media to deliberately not report on the kidnapping cases to help the admin present a facade is to tell the chinese victims, sorry... but your community will have to suffer in silence over this. we can't afford this "bad news" to ruin Arroyo's image.
OTOH, I am for a news blackout treatment on the abu sayyaf/terrorist kidnappings in mindanao and iraq. because unlike the ordinary kidnapping cases where the kidnappers prefer to operate below the radar, the kumander robots and al quedas of the world kidnap their victims to mainly to get attention and use it for their cause and propaganda. They even do interviews and release videos to the media, fer cryin out loud.
in this case, a news blackout is justified para hindi nila magamit ang kidnapping for propaganda purposes.
erap back when he was president called for a news blackout on the kumander robot/abu sayyaf group dahil media coverage on it is not helpful to the victims or those who are trying to rescue them. it only helps broadcast the so-called grievances of the terrorist orgs.
But the media back then did not cooperate with him and refused to follow the news blackout request.
Arroyo also called for a news blackout on the lamitan abu sayyaf kidnappings, and most of the mainstream media complied. I supported that move of arroyo.
UPDATE: From Scud:
Yes, she was calling for a news blackout back in 2002..eh nagkaroon nga ba? According to statistics from MRPO there were 134 incidents of kidnapping that year..third highest recorded in 12 years. siguro naman kung may news blackout di ganyan kadami yan.
At the beginning (from 2002-late 2003) hindi perfect yung implementation ng policy of “news blackout”, because it was a new policy at that time at hindi pa sanay ang media sa ganitong request for self-censorship on all kidnapping cases sa metro manila. but later, the admin got better compliance from the media.
during ramos and erap’s time btw, i recall lahat ng mga kidnapping cases ay nire-report sa frontpage ng newspapers.
The implementation of this policy started getting serious around 2003.
‘Kill’ live kidnap
cases, cops ask
Posted: 0:39 AM (Manila Time) | Jun. 01, 2003
By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer News Service
OFFICIALS of the Philippine National Police and anti-crime groups Saturday appealed anew to the media to refrain from reporting on “live kidnapping cases” to ensure the safety of the victims.
In newspaper parlance, to “kill” a story is to have it not see print.
it got to the point na the police would still not give information on the kidnapping cases even after bayad na ang ransom at na-release na ang biktima.
The girl was reportedly released at the corner of Anonas and Kamias Road in Quezon City.
Reyes said Dy’s case is subject of follow-up operation and that therefore, details could not be discussed.
“This is a live case. We would rather not discuss it,” he stressed in referring to the ransom demand.
So, does that mean na as long as the kidnappers are still on the loose, Arroyo’s police won’t talk about any of the kidnapping cases, kahit ligtas na ang bata at bayad na ang ransom? Because it’s still a “live case,” whatever the hell that means?
don’t they want the public to help apprehend these kidnappers by making public the kidnappers descriptions? what were they afraid of? napalaya na ang biktima, hindi ba?
this smells more like an attempt at PR control more than anything else.
I guess the media should kill any stories with “live cases” eh? Screw Amber Alert.
Make no mistake about it, this was Arroyo’s policy all along to combat bad PR:
Speaking by phone, President Macapagal-Arroyo said she was “meeting with a major (TV) network” later in the evening to air her request to observe media silence.
She noted that the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, the industry association, had signed a memorandum of agreement “with anti-crime NGOs (nongovernment organizations), the Teresita Ang Sees of the world,” not to report live cases.
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