2 witnesses surface, dispute Barbers’ kidnap claim

Two witnesses on Sunday surfaced to police and disputed the alleged kidnapping attempt on Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) general manager Robert Dean Barbers. Their statements prompted an official of the Calabarzon police to believe that the incident was not a foiled kidnapping, as Barbers had claimed, but a traffic altercation. The police official, who requested anonymity, said the incident looked “very different" from all other recorded kidnapping incidents in the country. “Siguro nagkabarakuhan lang sila ni Barbers (Perhaps Barbers and the men had a quarrel. The suspects, as the witnesses’ statements showed, were not wearing [balaclavas], bonnets or any other [clothing materials] that would hide their [faces]," the police official said. “Wala pang nga t-shirt yung isa eh (One of the men was even shirtless)," he said. One of the witnesses, a certain Armando Asi, said he was walking near a chapel in Barangay (village) Lalayak, San Jose , Batangas when he saw a black Ford Laser car stopped along the provincial road at around 11 a.m. In a statement he gave to the San Jose municipal police office, Asi said a Ford Explorer then suddenly appeared and stopped right in front of the car, deliberately blocking its path. A gun-wielding man, who later turned out to be Barbers, purportedly alighted from the sports utility vehicle and approached the driver side of the car. The driver of the car, who Asi identified as Niño Virtusio of the Philippine Air Force, also got off his vehicle and supposedly engaged Barbers in a shouting match. Asi said Barbers then poked the gun at Virtusio and punched him, hitting the PAF man on the back of his head. The driver of the SUV immediately went back to his vehicle and sped off toward Bauan town. Asi said he was just 25 meters from where the incident happened. He said there were at least three other men who were inside Vitusio’s car during the incident. Another witness, a certain Pedro Punio, gave a similar account of the event and supported the claims of the Asi, saying it was Barbers who hit Virtusio. Punio said he was standing in front of a store just 20 meters from where Barbers and Virtusio had a verbal tussle. Asi gave his statement to the police investigator at around 8:15 p.m. Saturday, around 15 minutes after Punio gave his similar testimony. Curiously, Asi is a council member of the barangay where Virtusio’s father is the barangay captain. Conflicting stories According to police records, the accounts of the two witnesses were conflicting with the claims that Barbers made. Reached through his mobile phone, Barbers immediately brushed off the claims of the two witnesses, saying the video and photographs taken by a member of the local media in Batangas would easily belie their allegations. The tourism official stood firm on his complaint that Virtusio and three other men tried to snatch him while he was driving along a road in Bauan. Barbers, though, admitted that an incident happened in San Jose a few minutes before the four armed men tried to abduct him and his family in Barangay Manghinao. He said he was cruising along the provincial road in San Jose to take a shortcut to Bauan town on their way to Mabini town to visit a beach resort when he noticed that a Ford Laser was traveling slowly in front of his SUV. He said he turned on the headlights of his vehicle to signal to the car’s driver that he would overtake. But instead of giving way, the car allegedly tried to block his path whenever he tried to overtake it. He said when he noticed that the car had no license plate, he sensed something was wrong. But before he could maneuver his vehicle, the car stopped and blocked the road. He said two armed men, whom he later identified as Virtusio and Gerry Mendoza, got off the car and ordered him to get out of his vehicle. He said he pleaded with the suspects and asked them to just take him instead and spare his family. Barbers said he eventually had a chance to get back to his SUV and drove away toward Bauan town. The suspects then gave Barbers a chase on board another vehicle, a Mitsubishi Adventure, and cut his path in Bauan town. He said at least four armed men alighted from the van and commanded him and his companions to get off their vehicle. Police identified the four as Mendoza, Virtusio and his brothers Jun, a policeman and Noel, a member of Barangay Intelligence Network in Batangas City. Jun and Mendoza have been arrested and are now undergoing interrogation. When the suspects were able to get hold Barbers’ aide, who was seated at the back of the vehicle, a man who introduced himself as a journalist interceded and asked the armed men what had happened. The journalist, who was later identified as Ben Aclan, took a video of the incident on his mobile phone. “Those suspects can’t lie because they were caught on video. My wife was also able to take pictures of the suspects on her mobile phone," he said. Barbers then noted that Virtusio had even denied that he was in the area when the incident happened. “If the suspects really didn’t have no intention to kidnap us, then why the wife and father of Jun were Virtusio were pleading me to forgive him?" he said. Barbers said they could have been victims of “day kidnapping" where abductors release their victims in just 24 hours after negotiating for a small ransom. He said this could be explained why police recovered P100, 000 cash from the suspects’ vehicle. Reporter speaks In a separate mobile phone conversation, Aclan backed Barbers’ story and doubted the intentions of the witnesses. Aclan, who Barbers described as the “angel" who saved him and his family, said he saw how the suspects forced Barbers’ aide to board their van. He said the incident was “an obvious case of kidnapping." He said the suspects might have mistaken the official’s aide as Barbers. “If it was just a simple traffic altercation, then why did the suspects snatch the man behind the driver’s seat? They should have targeted the driver," he argued. Aclan said the video he took clearly showed that the suspects had wanted to take the occupants of the vehicle. “They (suspects) just stopped what they were doing when they saw me taking video on the scenario," he said. Probe focuses on Barber’s story Supt. Ferdinand de Castro, Bauan police chief, said despite the statements of the witnesses, their investigation will still focus on the claims of Barbers that the suspects tried to kidnap them. He said the suspects have refused to give their statements to police investigators as they await the advice of their legal counsels. “We will probably file attempted kidnapping and other criminal cases against the suspects. We are still gathering other evidences," de Castro said. He said they have launched manhunt operations to arrest Virtusio and his brother Noel who remained at-large. De Castro said records showed that Virtusio was never involved in any wrongdoing as a member of the Cuenca police station.- GMANews.TV