MANILA, Philippines -- More than 10,000 Filipino-Chinese marched through the capital Wednesday to mourn a kidnapped teenage girl killed in a botched police rescue and to demand action against thriving kidnapping syndicates.
The funeral march for Charlene Sy, 15, stretched for some four miles on a highway in suburban Quezon City. Throngs of ethnic Chinese business people and students joined the procession, blocking traffic for blocks.
Dozens of shops in Manila's Binondo Chinatown observed a half-day sympathy strike and several private Chinese schools canceled classes.
'This is an exercise to show our outrage,' said Jimmy Chan, an ethnic Chinese businessman participating in the march. 'It seems that the government can't do anything about these (kidnappings).'
The wealthy ethnic Chinese community is a prime target for Philippine kidnapping syndicates. At least 170 were kidnapped during 1992, Teresita Ang See, editor of a monthly Chinese-Filipino newspaper said.
Most of the victims are released after paying a large ransom and their families rarely complain to the police -- partly out of widespread fear that some police officers and soldiers are involved in the kidnapping gangs.
Sy was killed along with four of her kidnappers in a car chase and shoot-out between police and her abductors on one of Manila's busiest highways Jan. 7.
President Fidel Ramos Wednesday ordered Philippine National Police Chief Raul Imperial to intensify an investigation into the shooting, which ignited protest against police conduct during rescue operations.
Many of the marchers Wednesday wore navy blue arm-bands, which they said symbolized peace, and red and white ribbons on their chests in a show of mourning.
Some waved placards demanding government action against kidnappings in the Chinese community. 'After Charlene, who's next?,' read one placard. 'Lord have mercy on us,' read another.
March leader Senator Anna Dominique Coseteng, an ethnic Chinese lawmaker, said she organized the protest to pressure the government to take stronger action against kidnappers.
'We must restore people's trust to law enforcers or else the people will take the law into their own hands,' she said. 'They just can't understand why these crimes are not being remedied.'
