MANILA, Philippines — All it took was a 911 call from a Quezon City bank to arrest 11 suspects, including three retired military personnel responsible for the abduction of a 78-year-old Filipino-Chinese businesswoman whose ransom was P150 million, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Friday.
The rescue operation took place on Sept. 11, 2025 when three suspects accompanied the victim to a bank in Quezon City to withdraw from P3 million to
P8 million from her account.
Remulla said the bank operators knew of the situation and contacted the Philippine National Police (PNP) right away. Within minutes police arrived, arrested the three and rescued the kidnap victim.
Follow-up operations then resulted in the apprehension of two more female suspects and another male. On Friday morning, five more were arrested.
“We believe that there are other conspirators in this case so hot pursuit is going on. We cannot divulge the identity of the victim,” Remulla said.
Remulla refused to disclose details about the three former military men belonging to the marines. He however said two were discharged honorably while the other one left service dishonorably.
Crime perpetrators ‘not of high intelligence’
Remulla described the kidnapper as someone who was “not of high intelligence” for even thinking of bringing the victim to the bank to withdraw money.
The AKG meanwhile were praised by Remulla for following the protocols of “buying time” until the kidnappers became impatient that they had to bring the victim to the bank.
Remulla described the scenario as a “comedy of errors” that could pass for a movie but praised the AKG for responding to the branch manager’s call quickly and arriving on the scene in just two minutes.
