| Four suspected kidnappers and a policeman have been killed and five other people arrested on Thursday, as the Philippines Government fought back against a rising wave of abductions. President Gloria Arroyo said police tailed the mastermind of the abduction and slaying earlier this week of Coca-Cola Export finance manager Betty Sy to a hideout near the town of Dinalupihan north of Manila. The gang lobbed a grenade at police raiders, killing an officer and wounding four other lawmen, said local military commander Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Tutaan. An hour-long firefight followed, killing four gang members including their leader Roberto Yap. Two other suspects were later arrested, including a wounded woman, Lieutenant Colonel Tutaan said in a written report. Mrs Arroyo announced the clash in a nationally televised address to advertising executives in the northern city of Baguio. "I would like to announce that the kidnappers of the Coca-Cola executive have been caught, some of them," she said. "The others have been killed in an encounter including their leader, the notorious number one kidnapper in the order of battle — Roberto Yap." Police on Tuesday found the body of 32-year-old Sy, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in trash near the seafront in southern Manila, a day after she was seized by unidentified armed men. Press reports said she had bled to death from gunshot wounds accidentally inflicted by kidnappers when they seized her. The Chinese-Filipino community said the Coca-Cola executive was the 156th kidnap victim in the Philippines so far this year. |