Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 26) — Amid a spate of kidnapping incidents involving Chinese nationals over the years, the Philippine National Police will send anti-kidnapping police officers to China to study Mandarin.
The PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) said the Mandarin lessons will help them address language barriers in investigating these kidnapping cases.
“Ito yung nagiging problema natin ‘pag may mga nare-rescue tayong mga Chinese at saka ‘pag may nahuhuli tayong kidnappers na Chinese din. (Kailangan) mag- hire tayo ng interpreter para maimbestigahan at malaman kung ano talaga ang punot-dulo noong pagkidnap sa kanila at bakit sila kinidnap,” PNP-AKG spokesperson PLTCol. Elmer Cereno said.
[Translation: This is our usual problem when we rescue kidnapped Chinese or Chinese kidnappers. We’d need to ask for help with translation so we can investigate.]
He said that once the police officers can understand the language, the anti-kidnapping unit will no longer have to hire interpreters, which would mean less expense for them.
The PNP-AKG cited an increasing number of kidnapping cases in the country involving Chinese nationals. Based on police records, at least 56 kidnapping incidents happened since 2017. At least 120 Chinese kidnapping suspects were arrested during the same period.
The Chinese Consulate will sponsor the language training of around 20 officers as their help to local authorities. The first batch will be trained in September.
CNN Philippines correspondent Gerg Cahiles contributed to this report.
