7 convicted kidnappers shipped to ‘Munti’
Barely two weeks since the court convicted them, the seven suspects in the kidnapping of a businessman’s son would start their jail sentence at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Escorted by 12 jailguards from the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center, convicted kidnappers Jonathan Poblacion, Edgar Sorsano, Pedro Caunday, Agapito Estologa, Alfonso Silao, Elno Umadhay Jr., and Winifredo Conjusta were shipped at around 2:00 a.m. yesterday.
But while waiting their travel time, the convicts were brought at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol at Bonifacio Drive, Iloilo City dusk of Monday.
Aside from heavily-armed IRC personnel, members of the Iloilo Provincial Public Safety Management Company also augmented the security.
IRC warden Atty. Soteo Gardose said that they had to move the seven convicts earlier because of some intelligence report that there is a group who wanted to rescue the prisoners from the IRC custody.
“Sang nagligad pa ina nga semana naglupok ang ina nga information nga kuno may mga grupo, although, wala naton ma-validate how true is the report, pero indi naton ina ma-discount that’s why gina-pasiguro gid naton ang security,” Gardose told GMA TV-6.
The IRC warden said that Iloilo Provincial Capitol is considered safe from possible threats.
“Amo ni ang lugar nga nakita naton nga more secure kay kung didto kita sa IRC, medyo ang lugar didto indi secure kay malayo sa syudad. Diri sa syudad, damo diri mga friendly forces,” he added.
To note, Judge Adriano Savillo of the RTC-6 Branch 30 convicted the seven suspects for kidnapping Jefferson Tan, then 12, outside his school at Ledesco Village, La Paz, Iloilo City, last October 15, 2002.
The court also ordered them to pay P40,000 in moral damages.
In his 45-page decision, Savillo convicted the 7 for conspiring in the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Tan for the purpose of extorting ransom with the use of unlicensed firearm.
When the incident happened, the victim was on board a car with his driver and a classmate.
The kidnappers left Tan’s driver and classmate in the area and the victim to an undisclosed location.
The suspects demanded P50 million ransom, which they later lowered to P2 million. The victim was released, but the family denied paying the suspects the ransom.
Aside from the seven, there were two others involved in the kidnapping.
However, Ernie del Castillo died while in detention at IRC while Miguel Saavedra remains at large.