THE KIDNAPPERS of senior Bea Mata have been caught.

In a telephone interview with The GUIDON on February 13, her father Brian Mata confirmed that the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) finally nabbed the men who kidnapped his daughter inside the Ateneo on November 21, 2013.

According to Brian Mata, the QCPD caught the four members of the Alvin Ignacio Kidnap and Robbery Group after they attempted to hijack the car of former Quezon City Congressman Matt Defensor along Katipunan Avenue.

The QCPD invited Brian Mata to talk to the suspects after finding similarities in the group’s modus operandi for the car hijacking with Bea’s kidnapping case.

“They admitted that they were the ones who kidnapped [Bea],” he said.

The kidnappers told him that they entered the Ateneo at around 3:00 PM on November 21 using a rented car. Mata said the driver even left his ID at the gate before entering the campus.

“Someone was supposed to call them to tell them about their target, but that info never came,” Brian Mata said. “It was 6 PM already and they were just loitering in the parking area. At around 6:30, they saw Bea and considered her a target.”

“This is just a small time group looking for quick money,” he added, explaining that the kidnappers claimed that they had no intention to hurt his daughter and only wanted money.

Updates on the investigation

The Ateneo conducted a parallel investigation of the kidnapping case last year. However, Brian Mata said he received no further updates from the university until this last development on the case.

“The last communication I got [from the Ateneo] was three weeks ago. They told me that QCPD called them about having caught a gang that seems to be linked to Bea’s case,” he said. “But we already know that because QCPD also contacted us.”

Meanwhile, QCPD Chief Senior Superintendent Richard Albano apologized to the Mata family for the miscommunication during the height of the investigation. Albano was reported to have said that the kidnapping was a hoax and was just a “kidnap-me” scheme.

According to Brian Mata, Albano said there was a misunderstanding among the various police units. He added that because the “main police outfit handling [Bea’s case] is the AKG [Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group] in Camp Crame… QCPD [did not] have any information about what happened.”

Additional security measures

Megaforce Integrated Security Agency (MISA) Detachment Commander to the Ateneo Darwin Enguerra, CSP said that several measures have been added to ensure the safety of students on campus after the kidnapping.

He said that the Facilities Management Office (FMO), which handles campus security, has already approved the extension of the guards’ patrol hours to 10:00 PM.

Additional lights have been installed in the parking areas. Security guards are also now required to submit reports to their sector commanders every 30 minutes, which include the number of cars at every parking area.

Central FMO Officer-in-Charge Ma. Victoria Panlilio-Dimalanta added, “Our CCTVs have been installed in strategic areas, for the common areas. For the LS (Loyola Schools), now we have a number of CCTVs which are fully operational.”

The main and pedestrian gates of the Ateneo are strictly being monitored as well. According to Dimalanta, vehicles with no gate pass or Ateneo sticker are issued a visitor’s pass before entering campus.

Enguerra said student-owned cars with no Ateneo sticker are also not allowed to park inside the school.

Assessing security

Although FMO, MISA and the Campus Security Office assured that there will be stricter implementation of rules with regard to entering the campus, Enguerra admitted that “there is no 100% security screen” in the university.

Brian Mata and his daughter believe there is still a need to improve the security measures in school.

Bea Mata shared that the morning after she was released by the kidnappers, security guards did not ask her for her ID nor did they issue a visitor’s pass when she and her relatives entered the campus using her aunt’s car, which did not have an Ateneo sticker.

In Bea Mata’s opinion, informing the guards of where one is going inside campus, which is the protocol in these instances, is not a sufficient reason for being allowed to enter campus without a car pass.

Brian Mata also questioned the efficiency of the security equipment in the Ateneo.

He said that if the CCTVs were improved before, the footage could have been used to provide vital evidence against his daughter’s kidnappers.

During the investigation, two CCTV cameras at the North Car Park were broken. Aside from this, the footage from the CCTV cameras at the main gates had low resolution.

“The equipment are already antiquated. [They] should be upgraded. Why are they allowing that? The Ateneo is a premier school, security measures should have a level of quality,” Brian Mata argued.

Wake-up call

Bea Mata also questioned how her kidnapping would affect the contract of MISA with the Ateneo.

“Considering this [incident] happened under their watch… why is our security still handled by Megaforce?” she asked in a mix of English and Filipino.

She added, “With this experience, we should have an improvement for the community. This is a wake-up call. If nobody makes a noise, request or demands, nothing will happen. The system will just be lax.”

According to Enguerra, they are running studies everyday to see how they can further improve security in the Ateneo.

Assistance

With a lot of untoward incidents happening inside and outside the campus, Enguerra ensured that the Campus Security Office would readily assist anyone in need of help.

Even if it is outside their jurisdiction, should an incident involving a student happen outside the Ateneo, Enguerra said that they can deploy a team to assist the student and bring them to the barangay or police.

He added that if the student were injured, the safety of the student would still take priority over the legal aspect.

“Within the perimeter or not, when they call and inform us that it involves a student from Ateneo, immediately I have a team to be deployed to protect the student. And then the legal aspect will follow with the help of ADSA (Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs).”