Suspected kidnap-for-ransom gang leader Rolando Fajardo — charged with eight counts of kidnapping, and tagged by the authorities as the country’s most-wanted fugitive with a P1-million reward for his capture — insisted on his innocence, and said he was ready to clear his name.
Fajardo was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) just as he exited a Singapore Airlines flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). (See:Wanted kidnapper nabbed upon arrival from Singapore)
From NAIA, Fajardo was brought to the NBI office for documentation, then to a hospital in Metro Manila, for “stomach pains."
"Ako po ay umalis sa aking bansa para proteksyunan ang aking buhay, ang aking pamilya. Umalis man po ako ng bansa, pero hindi nawawala sa isip ko na darating ang panahon, babalik din ako para linisin ang pangalan ko," Fajardo told GMA News’ Jiggy Manicad in an exclusive interview at the hospital.
(I left my country to protect my life and my family. I may have left the country, but I never stopped thinking that the time would come when I returned to clear my name.)
The arrested fugitive, who said he lived in Italy for the past eight years, is facing nine warrants of arrest for a series of crimes throughout the 1990s — eight for kidnapping for ransom, and one for carnapping, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Fajardo said that since fleeing the country in 2002, he has been hiding out in Rome, Italy, where he made a living by working as a dishwasher and caregiver, and by lending money to other Filipinos and selling cell phone cards.
The Interpol however caught on to Fajardo even while he was in Italy, identifying him as a wanted criminal, the NBI said.
When Fajardo returned to the Philippines under a false name, the NBI, tipped off by their European counterparts, were waiting to arrest him.
Three charged Fajardos
Fajardo’s father, Ruperto, was himself convicted for the kidnapping of Japanese businessman Nobuyuki Wakaoji, and jailed for 18 years.
Meanwhile, Fajardo’s brother, Harold, also has a P1-million bounty on his head.
The elder Fajardo said that the accusations against the three of them have brought great trauma to their family, reported GMA news program “24 Oras."
Justice secretary Leila de Lima said that authorities are continuing their search for Harold, who, reports indicate, may also be hiding in Italy.
Curious twist
In a curious twist, when the New People’s Army admitted responsibility for killing expelled NPA leader Romulo Kintanar in January 2003, among the “heinous crimes" they attributed to him was his alleged involvement in kidnap-for-ransom and other “gangster operations," citing the Wakaoji kidnapping as one example.
In a five-page statement issued a few days after Kintanar was killed, as widely reported by the media, then Communist Party spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger" Rosal revealed that he (Kintanar) and his men had received the equivalent of $10 million in ransom in exchange for Wakaoji’s freedom.
In February of the same year, Rosal issued another statement condemning the government for the “unjust and cruel" conviction and incarceration of brothers Ireneo and Ruperto Fajardo for the Wakaoji kidnapping.
Kintanar's family and allies have denied the CPP-NPA's charges against the former NPA leader.—Larissa Mae Suarez/JV, GMANews.TV
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