Jan. 26, 2002, 11:28AM
Philippine police foil plot to kidnap American
By ADAM BROWN
Associated Press
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- A notorious kidnapping gang raided a Dole Food Co. Inc. plantation today in an apparent attempt to seize an American executive, but the gang was ambushed by police acting on a tip.
The raid came as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assured the nation that U.S. troops helping to fight another group of kidnappers, the Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels, would not participate directly in combat.
Police blamed the Dole plantation raid on the Pentagon Gang, which specializes in kidnapping foreigners and is on a U.S. list of international terror groups.
Police Col. Bartolome Baluyot said two junior commanders of the Pentagon Gang were killed when they tried to storm the house of Christopher H. Hubbard, Dole's director for agriculture in Asia.
Baluyot said other gang members fled and were being hunted by police.
He said police were waiting after receiving reports that the gang, which already holds Italian priest Giuseppe Pierantoni, planned to abduct Hubbard from his offices on 25,000-acre Dole pineapple plantation and cannery in Polomolok town, 620 miles southeast of Manila. The gunfight broke out as the Pentagon tried to storm the area.
Baluyot said intelligence reports told him to expect at least eight gang members. It was not clear how many showed up.
Two days before Christmas, police raided a Pentagon jungle camp and rescued Pierre Belanger of Ottawa, Canada, who had been held hostage for nearly two months. Police killed two gunmen in a clash with the gang.
The southern Philippines is plagued by kidnapping gangs and Muslim guerrilla uprisings.
The Pentagon is increasingly active but is much smaller than the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, also infamous for kidnapping foreigners. It currently holds Wichita, Kan., missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap on the southern island of Basilan.