An inter-agency task force will be created to handle kidnapping cases, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said on Friday, April 11.
The task force is expected to be composed of the DOJ, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Remulla said hotlines will also be set up where people can call in tips, report crimes and whatever else the community may need.
“These hotlines will be functioning in the next few days. Hopefully the DILG will be running the hotlines together with another hotline of the DOJ,” he said.
At the same time, Remulla said the Supreme Court (SC) will be asked to create special courts to handle kidnapping cases.
“It is a national security issue, an economic issue, and an issue for our well being as Filipinos,” he said.
“The creation of the task force is paramount,” declared Remulla during a press conference at the DOJ following a meeting with officials of various agencies and representatives of the Filipino-Chinese community.
Remulla made the announcement after the remains of Filipino-Chinese businessman Anson Que and his driver were found last April 9 in Rodriguez, Rizal.
“Ang aim nito (The aim in the creation of the task force) is to have a high visibility leadership where people can talk to kapag meron problema kasi ang problema (whenever there is a problem because the problem is) when these things happen a lot of them don’t trust,” he said.
He also said “our President gave a very strict order to all of us to be on top of the situation.”
“The most important thing is there is awareness within the community that we we know what happened, we know what’s happening and that we need the help para maka-act accordingly sa mga problema na dumarating on a day to day basis (so we can act accordingly to problems on a day to day basis),” he stated.
He admitted: "Maraming doubt about law enforcement and government and maraming tao they rather do it themselves (Many people doubt law enforcement and government and many people decide to solve the problem themselves).”
Thus, he said, “there are some unreported incidents.”
“Many families chose not to cooperate with law enforcement and we only found out tapos na,” he cited.
For his part, former Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) president Cecilio Pedro expressed thanks for the action taken by the government
“All of them are doing their best to help us and we are confident that this issue will be addressed very soon,” said Pedro.
Pedro admitted: “Natatakot ‘yung business community dahil po sa kidnapping na ito (the business community is afraid because of this kidnapping).”
In the meantime, Remulla said the creation of the task force will be “drawn up over the weekend and result will be announced next week.”
He assured that the investigation continues on the kidnap-for-ransom case of the slain businessman and his driver.
“We actually have more information about it but we don’t want to divulge everything,” he said.