Philippine convict kidnapped, official says

Manila: A Filipino-Chinese jailed for killing a college student in a road rage incident in 1991 has gone missing from prison, with officials claiming he was a victim of kidnap for ransom.

Rolito Go disappeared at 11.30am on Tuesday after he did not return to the National Penitentiary in southern suburban Muntinlupa City, jailors confirmed.

“After Go’s family went to the National Penitentiary yesterday, his family also told me they were able to contact the phone of Rolito Go and his nephew, who, in turn, claimed they were kidnapped and their kidnappers wanted P1 million (Dh83,333) ransom payment,” said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Go was last seen at the premises of Church of Pious Mother inside the national penitentiary, witnesses said in a radio interview.

He works at the church after he became a minimum security inmate (or a live-out prisoner), after having served term of 19 years. He was also diagnosed with colon cancer.

A search for Go is on at hospitals in Metro Manila, aid National Penitentiary director Gaudencio Pangilinan.

Go has been undergoing chemotherapy at the Makati Medical Centre, for his colon cancer, said Pangilinan, but did not mention that the missing inmate could be a kidnap-for-ransom victim.

Personnel at the minimum security compound were also investigated, Pangilinan added.

Go, a rich Filipino-Chinese businessman, was convicted of murder for the death of student Eldon Maguan in a road rage case in 1991.