If as adduced by the police, Jordan Chua is still being held somewhere in Bacolod, I don’t think it will take long for the police to find him and rescue him from his kidnappers.

It is extremely difficult for him to be spirited out of the province. Especially if his captors are from Zamboanga or Mindanao province. The only problem is that while the police are aware of the commotion last week in a hotel where Chua was forcibly taken in tow to meet their "superior officer" by the four men, by now the police must have already the identities of those four men who, ostensibly, could have been the snatchers also of Jordan.

If true they are asking from P20 million to P50 million to ransom Jordan, that’s money that cannot just be released easily except through local bank. Thus, police should be able to determine which bank would encash such a big amount of checks.

Jordan Chua, a businessman, was snatched last Saturday in Dulao, Bago City, by four men who had just glanced at two other bikers and proceeded to where Jordan Chua was and bundled him off into a Toyota Grandia van with no plate number. They also shot on the back, Joel Arroyo who tried to stop them from abducting Jordan. They shot him in the back, the bullet exiting on his chest.

While the police considers the case only an abduction, there are rumors that the family of the Fil-Chinese businessman had been contacted to ransom him for P20 million to P50 million. But that is an unconfirmed rumor.

The last kidnapping incident that occurred in Bacolod was that of the Cokin sisters several years ago.

A police officer and several people were linked to the said incident.

Well, let’s wait for the police to report progress in their search for Jordan and his captors.

* * *

Suddenly yesterday, something was started that may have altered the political equation in Bacolod.

This was when a group of Catholic laymen, mostly comprised of Catholic ladies embarked on an early morning campaign for the Ang Kapatiran in Barangay Bata at the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes.

They were being hosted for breakfast by Fr. Boy Tan, the parish priest. When they got out of the Fortich Hall, several of them approached us and said they were campaigning for Ang Kapatiran.

This was the party endorsed last week by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra.

I had always the impression that Ang Kapatiran is just a national party. But I realized yesterday that they have also local candidates from vice mayor down to councilors.

If they represent the same groups working for Ang Kapatiran in other Bacolod parishes, that could change the political equation in the city.

Frankly, though, I never realized that Engineer Johram Alama is candidate for vice mayor. For councilors, the candidates are Joel Bonifacio, lay minister; Vicente Gico, Couples for Christ, Rita Jimenez, Servants of the Lord; Siegfredo Magalona, Baptist Church and Marcos Templado of the Knights of Columbus.

Of course, the presidential candidate is JC de los Reyes with Jun Chipeco as his running mate. Well, for the moment, that’s the score.*