Kidnapped
Roger Yu, father of the boy allegedly kidnapped for ransom by former Congressman Dennis Roldan, tells his family's harrowing story in today's Philippine Star. The boy was saved only because on the fourth day of the abduction, a concerned citizen reported the presence of strange men who were fully armed at a newly-rented apartment. Once again, the importance of vigilant neighbors in fighting crime.

What is truly sad about this kidnapping story is not that Roldan or his sidekick, the barangay captain of Kamias, had public service backgrounds--we are, after all, a republic ruled by crooks--but that, Suzette Huang, the one who tipped off Roldan about the boy, was a close friend of the mother, a friend from way back grade school days. In fact, the boy's mother and Huang were so close the former knew of the latter's illicit affair with Roldan. She even dissuaded Huang from continuing the affair, but Huang reportedly only laughed and said, "Saan ka naman makakita ng lalaking guwapo na, mayaman pa at mapagmahal?" Huang was an old-fashioned romantic, and certainly not the first to fall for being one.