AS IT IS, the economy has become one of kidnapping's many victims. Since 1993, the estimated total amount of ransom paid has reached P1.25 billion. But kidnapping has also bled the country of billions of pesos more in foregone investments, capital flight, migration of students overseas, and the decline in tourist arrivals. A study conducted by Ang-see's KAISA Para sa Kaunlaran Center between 1992 and 1997 — which marked the first surge in kidnapping cases — placed the economic impact of kidnapping at a low of P34 billion during that period alone. Today, even expats who used to hie off to local resorts in Cebu or Palawan for the Christmas holidays are now said to be booking trips to Thailand instead because of security concerns.

	A young girl is rescued from her abductors by the police.

Only the kidnappers seem to be making money — lots of it. Ransom demands have grown bigger and bigger in recent years. One kidnap gang even asked for P100 million, although the going price at present hovers between P30 million to P50 million. To add insult to an already crippled economy, some kidnappers have expressed preference for greenbacks.

And the ransom pay-off sites are no longer confined to dimly lit streetcorners. Aided by the cellphone — voice and text — ransom is now delivered and received at hotel lobbies, in malls, and even by way of a plastic bag hanging by a hole at an exit on the North Diversion Road.

The easy money has led to copycat and fly-by-night kidnapping groups. According to the police, there are about 23 kidnapping gangs in operation, and 26 inactive ones. Ang-see sees a possible trend in bank-robbery syndicates shifting to kidnapping, as more and more banks install time-lock devices. There is also less risk involved in kidnapping — at least for those who conduct them, since they will not be up against two or more armed security guards and will have to worry only about subduing one or two people instead of a coterie of bank tellers and clients.

Coronel thinks that the kidnappers' belief that it is unlikely that they will get caught emboldens them as well. She recounts, "We have a victim, she was told by the kidnapper, 'Buti pa kayo pag nagbayad na ang mga magulang niyo wala na kayong problema, palalayain kayo. Kami, death penalty ito pag nahuli kami. (You're lucky, you have parents, you no longer have problems because you're going to be set free. But we'd be facing the death penalty if we are caught.)' But, he told the victim, 'Pang-ilan ka na naman di naman kami nahuhuli. (We've kidnapped several people before you, and we've yet to be caught.)"'

"So really it is the lack of fear on the part of kidnappers," she says. " It is not necessarily the risk of getting a death penalty. It is really the fear that they will get caught." Coronel believes that only when the police catch and bring kidnappers to justice could kidnapping be curbed. "It's trying to get a total cut to the cycle, to totally eradicate kidnapping," she says. "You have to stop somewhere, and somewhere is that point when you get full cooperation both from the society and from the police."

"Trust is a big factor," she adds. "Every kidnapping case that is successful breeds two other cases. So if we don't put a stop to it, it's never going to end."

Part of the problem, however, is that there is a lingering public mistrust toward authorities, who are more known, rightly or wrongly, for bungling cases than solving them. In too many instances, the police have also accidentally killed the victims they were trying to rescue, among them Charlene Sy and Wilson Ong, who were abducted in 1993 and 1998, respectively. Police even placed the bloodied body of Sy; who was still in her blue-and-white school uniform, on the road, in between two of her dead kidnappers.

There have also been suspicions that neighborhood thugs and former rebels are not the only members of kidnapping syndicates, but police and military personnel as well. Obviously, instances like the 1995 conviction of Chief Supt. Eduardo Berroya, Central Luzon police regional commander, for his complicity in the kidnapping of Taiwanese businessman Jack Chou, add to such fears. While the Supreme Court in 1998 overturned Berroya's conviction because of insufficient evidence, it also took pains in stressing that it was not absolving him of guilt. Or as it put it, its ruling "did not mean that the accused appellant is lily-white or pure as driven snow."

General Hermogenes Ebdane, head of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF), himself admits that a number of military and police personnel and officers had been involved in some gangs. But he declines to say even how high the ranks of the officers involved are.

Ordinary citizens, of course, are even less likely to name names and cite specifics. The most anti-crime groups will say is this: there are three generals in particular whom they believe to be somehow entangled in kidnapping. Some also note that in recent months, many of the safehouses where kidnap victims were later rescued, as well as the provinces where many ransom dropoffs have taken place, were somehow located in the very aTeas under the control of these generals.

In fairness, Ebdane has managed to restore the faith of Chinese-Filipinos in the government's anti-kidnapping efforts. He comes across as rather phlegmatic, but he rates well in the integrity meter and is known to be industrious in studying issues. Ebdane though is still in the process of training his composite team of 200 police, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Armed Forces personnel. He also says that most of the gadgets that were assigned to the now-defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) are in disrepair or simply outdated. He has asked the Chinese-Filipino community to con- tribute perhaps a few night-vision goggles, bullet-proof vests, and bullet-proof helmets for his men. According to some reports, these are actually available at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters, but that PNP chief Gen. Leandro Mendoza is reserving them for his Special Action Forces.

Still, despite his difficulties, Ebdane says that the police are solving more kidnapping cases today. By "solved," he says, he means suspects have been arrested. But as some legal experts point out, that is hardly the end of the matter.

One lawyer who handles kidnapping cases says he has noticed that some arresting officers now skip trials, while those who have been reassigned are hard to locate. The lawyer says he misses the PAOCTF which he said always made sure arresting officers not only attended the trials, but also came prepared. He rues the dissolution of the PAOCTF which, despite an unsavory reputation, had accumulated formidable experience and training in anti-kidnapping work. That experience and training — plus the technology — would have more than come in handy now, says the lawyer, provided the men are under a good commander.