Glocke Security Agency chief Ronnie Morilla (right) escorts kidnapping suspect Marlon Paras with his hands handcuffed at his back, after his arrest at the Nepo shopping complex in Angeles City.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GLOCKE
ANGELES CITY- Security agency and police forces stalled yet another attempt to kidnap the wife of a prominent doctor last Tuesday afternoon in the Nepo shopping complex here, after another prominent doctor in neighboring Mabalacat City was also reportedly kidnapped but returned safely amid unconfirmed reports of a P5-million ransom.
Ronnie Morilla, chief of the Glocke Security Agency (GSA) at the Nepo complex who led his men in rescuing victim Gloria Suarez from being kidnapped, identifi ed the suspect as Marlon Paras, 32, married, of 5041 Prince Balagtas St. in Barangay Sta. Teresita here.
Morilla related that at about 2:15 p.m. last March 25, Suarez, wife of prominent nephrologist Dr. Biboy Suarez, was about to drive her Starex van at a parking area at the complex, when the suspect, armed with a knife, tried to push her into the vehicle.
Suarez was able to break free and attempted to run away, but was again held by the suspect as if to prevent her from fleeing, he said.
“The commotion attracted bystanders who alerted us about what they thought was a carnapping incident, so I ordered the blockage of all roads to prevent the suspect’s escape,” he said. Finally letting go of Suarez amid the commotion, the suspect then commandeered the Starex van and tried to mow down steel bars put in place by the security forces as policemen also arrived.
“When he drove in reverse to find another route, the suspect hit jeepneys parked at the back. I also ordered that the wheels of the car be shot to prevent his escape,” Morilla related. This prompted Paras to alight from the car and run on foot to a store where he hid in the toilet, Morilla said.
He was able to convince the suspect to surrender. He said Paras was found to possess only a six-inch knife in his pocket. He said police from Station 1 charged the suspect with attempted kidnapping.
Meanwhile, Mabalacat police director Senior Supt. Ferdie Perez said that another prominent doctor he named only as Dr. Punzalan was also abducted the other week in Barangay Poblacion in his city, but was allowed by his captors to go home unharmed last Tuesday, seven days after he was seen by witnesses being escorted into a van near his clinic.
Perez declined to confirm the case as kidnapping amid the refusal of relatives to give details, but noted that after Punzalan vanished, his captors called up relatives to ask them not to worry about their captive’s welfare and instructed them not to report to authorities.
Perez declined to say whether ransom was paid, but noted that Punzalan was released last Tuesday. “He was given P40 by his captors and dropped somewhere to enable him to take public transport towards home,” he added.
Police authorities in Angeles and Macalacat are investigating whether the kidnap attempt on Suarez and the case of Punzalan are related.