President Rodrigo Duterte said that drug syndicates now turned to kidnap-for-ransom activities because of his administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“There’s a very low supply of drugs now, nag-shift na sila sa kidnapping,” Duterte mentioned during his speech at the regional convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in Manila on Friday, November 4.
Duterte also disclosed that there had been six kidnapping activities that were recorded in Binondo in the last three weeks.
However, as early as Saturday, November 5, the director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Spt. Oscar Albayalde said that the records kept by the anti-kidnapping group of the Philippine National Police showed that there were no recorded kidnappings in the Metro Manila area for the past four months.
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“We will validate the information although as of now, we have not received any report regarding alleged kidnappings since the assumption of President Duterte,” the NCRPO Chief said.
The Manila Police District also conducted an initial verification but it “also yielded negative” reports on kidnapping activities.
Despite these records that proved the President’s claim otherwise, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella disclosed through a radio interview with dzRB that the President has his “own sources.”
“We don’t know if there are really kidnappings in Binondo but he (Duterte) has his own sources,” the Presidential Spokesperson said after the Manila Police District said there were no recent reports on kidnapping.
“If there are really no kidnapping activities that happened in Binondo, I’m sure the President has his own form of information. That’s all I can say,” Abella added.
Duterte’s kidnapping claims, though, had led the Metro Manila police chief to organize a meeting on Monday, November 7, with the Filipino-Chinese community in Binondo about security issues, especially those concerning kidnap-for-ransom.
Source: (newsinfo.inquirer.net, news.mb.com.ph, newsinfo.inquirer.net, sunstar.com.ph)
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