Kidnapping-Related Incidents – March 2025
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PSA Consultancy recorded three (3) kidnapping-related incidents involving four (4) victims in March 2025. Kidnap-for-ransom incidents comprised 66.67 percent of the total incidents. Based on the recorded incidents, the amount of ransom money demanded ranged from PHP 500,000 (USD 8,763.78) to PHP 1.14 billion (USD 20 million).
Of the four (4) kidnap victims reported during the period, two were foreign victims of Chinese nationality. PSA recorded zero kidnapping incidents targeting a Western national this month. Two kidnapping incidents occurred in Metro Manila (Pasay City), while one occurred in Cebu.
PSA notes the abduction of a Filipino-Chinese businessman and his driver this month who were both killed despite ransom payment. Analysts view this as significant not only because it deviates from abduction trends observed in the last five years, but also because it raises the possibility of the resurgence of kidnappings targeting Filipino-Chinese businesspeople, a phenomenon that peaked in the 1990s to the early 2000s.
At least in terms of frequency and volume of incidents, kidnapping trends have not yet significantly changed in 2025. But following the abolition of the offshore gaming (POGO) sector in the Philippines, analysts believe that threat actors and criminal groups associated with the sector may be broadening their pool of potential victims to include demographics that they did not historically target during the height of POGO-related abductions. At this time, PSA notes that more information over a longer period of time is needed to confirm whether kidnapping trends are heading in a certain direction.
Analysts recorded one successful rescue operation in the month of March, in response to a kidnap-for-ransom incident. The victim was held for less than a day prior to their rescue. Meanwhile, two of the kidnapping incidents in March resulted in the demise of the victims.
