Conman of outrageous fortune

The long and winding script read by Ramil Madriaga would make good material for a whodunnit. His life story and his narration of events were replete with contradictions. It is simply preposterous to believe that a man whose notoriety involved two cases of kidnap-for-ransom could be somebody who would be trusted by former president Rodrigo Duterte and then by Vice President Sara Duterte.

Madriaga’s kilometric narration in the mini-trial conducted by the Justice Committee of the House of Representatives, which was now and then dramatically interrupted by the shedding of crocodile tears, was a classic script for a mystery.

Let’s look at the kaleidoscopic life of Ramil Madriaga. He hit the headlines for his involvement in two kidnapping cases. He was first accused of kidnapping Vicente Uy sometime in 1996, with an alleged demand for ransom of P10 million, which was reduced to P5 million. Ramil, however, was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2003 due to insufficient evidence.

Moreover, Madriaga apparently did not stop his shady activity for again he was arrested on 12 July 2023 in Cainta, Rizal.

The Philippine News Agency (PNA) and other media reports following his arrest indicated that Madriaga had reorganized his kidnap-for-ransom syndicate to abduct cousins Mark and William Lu on 3 June 2022.

The Philippine National Police had tagged Madriaga as the fifth most wanted person nationwide.

A PNA account of that incident read: “The Madriaga Kidnap for Ransom Group is one of the most dangerous criminal syndicates in recent history and had been under intense investigation for several months. They were known for their brazen acts of violence and their involvement in the kidnapping of two Chinese nationals. The group’s activities had resulted in the loss of innocent lives, including the tragic death of an esteemed officer of the Anti-Kidnapping Group during a confrontation sometime in June 2022.”

Reckoned from the chronology and of criminal events as reported by the Philippine National Police, Madriaga, by his own recitations, perjured himself. He claimed that he worked for the Vice President at the time that she was Secretary of Education from 19 June 2022 until 18 June 2024, and he ranted that he delivered bags of money to the VP’s office from various fishy sources, including POGO operators.

And here is where Madriaga was caught by his mouth. He and the House Committee on Justice, chaired by Rep. Gerville Luistro, want the public to believe that he was free as a bird out of Alcatraz when, in fact, he was the subject of a nationwide manhunt and tagged as the fifth most wanted person in the Philippines, which ended in June 2022.

Thus ends another saga of adventurism for Ramil Madriaga. Coming up is another possible verdict of perjury. The script he read on nationwide TV just added another noose around his neck. What an outrageous fortune.