Finding the Right Term: Was Jun Lozada Kidnapped or Abducted?

In the media, the disappearance of Jun Lozada is often called "kidnapping" or "abduction." Some lawyer-senators have also pointed out that the people responsible for Lozada’s disappearance might have committed obstruction of justice, coercion, or forcible abduction.1

As a follower of the law, I’m interested about the exact legal term that applies to a particular situation. Words which to a layman may mean the same can have different significance in law. When I learned that Lozada was “kidnapped,” I consulted the Revised Penal Code (RPC) to see if he was really kidnapped, i.e., whether the elements which constitute kidnapping under the law are present in the case of Lozada’s disappearance. I did the same for some of the other afore-mentioned terms.

Here is what I found: Kidnapping is punished under Article 267 of the RPC and is committed by any private individual who shall kidnap or detain another, or in any manner deprive him of his liberty. Note that the crime is committed by any private individual. So, assuming that Lozada was indeed detained or deprived of his liberty from the time of his arrival at NAIA to his conveyance in La Salle, it would appear that he was never kidnapped since the persons responsible for his disappearance were all public officials.

It is interesting to know that the RPC considers kidnapping a crime against liberty, and abduction, as punished under Articles 342 and 343 of the RPC, a crime against chastity. Article 342, which refers to forcible abduction, punishes the abduction of any woman against her will and with lewd designs. On the other hand, Article 343, which refers to consented abduction, punishes the abduction of a virgin over twelve and under eighteen years of age, carried out with her consent and with lewd designs. With these legal definitions, Lozada was certainly never abducted.

If Lozada was neither kidnapped nor abducted, then how do we call his disappearance? From a legal standpoint, I believe that Lozada's disappearance through the hands of public officials is "arbitrary detention," an offense punished under Article 124 of the RPC. Arbitrary detention is very much like kidnapping or illegal detention except that it is committed by public officials or employees.

Next: On Obstruction of Justice


1 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=117102