Kidnapped!

Kidnap for ransom has recently become a blossoming "cottage industry" in the Philippines, with as much as 88 reported cases, including 19 foreign nationals victimized this year. This record high has surpassed the combined kidnapping toll in the last five years.

Albeit these incidents occur in only a few hot spots in Manila and Mindanao, the world's eyes have cast a sweeping judgment over the sorry state of peace and order and law enforcement in the Philippines.

Japan, for instance, issued an advisory last October to its citizens to avoid traveling to the Philippines amid rumors that the notorious Abu Sayyaf bandits in the south have close links with Osama bin Laden. This came less than a month after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's official visit to Japan where she practically begged Japanese businessmen to invest in the Philippines. Japan is the Philippine's second biggest source of tourists and the primary source of official development assistance.

The advisory led to massive cancellations in travel and hotel reservations, which caused a loss of as much as four million dollars in daily tourism-related income from Japanese tourists. Only last month did the Japanese Foreign Ministry allow its nationals to visit the Philippines again, but with a strong caveat that they avoid Manila and Mindanao.

While the Philippine government has taken steps to arrest this kidnapping spree, such as reorganizing the Philippine National Police and forming a new anti-kidnapping task force, the Filipino people are far from convinced, what with the involvement of rogue police and army personnel in kidnapping syndicates.

What the country needs, as the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) have suggested, is to create special courts specific to litigating these kidnap-for-ransom cases to expedite the meting of the death penalty to culprits, as stipulated in the Revised Penal Code. The reason why these syndicates continue to spawn is the apparent lack of teeth of both the police and the judiciary. For the evil dregs who often operate in police or military uniform, the Philippine justice system is a big farce.

It is imperative that we urgently wipe out lawless elements like the Abu Sayyaf and curb these alarming trends, which have succeeded in painting the Philippines red in the eyes of foreign tourists. Otherwise, the country's image, investments portfolio and tourism industry will continue to spiral towards a black hole. *