JEDDAH,11 January 2007 — Two Filipino police officers serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah), including one who was injured in an attack last year, were commended yesterday for helping capture a suspected member of a kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Ambassador Lauro L. Baja, the Philippines’ permanent representative to the United Nations, cited Inspectors Godofredo Ergo and Daniel Rosete, members of the Philippine National Police Contingent serving with Minustah, for their role in the Jan. 2 operation that led to the capture of the suspect.

“I wish to commend Mr. Ergo and Mr. Rosete for a job well done,” Ambassador Baja said in a press statement e-mailed to the media.

“Their actions on Jan. 2 demonstrate the kind of professionalism and commitment we expect to see in every Filipino police officer we send out to take part in a United Nations peacekeeping mission,” he added.

The statement cited a report from Senior Supt. Lester Camba, commander of the PNP contingent in Haiti, as saying Ergo personally captured Frantz Cajuste, 22.

Ergo was leading a Haitian police team in room-to-room clearing operations at the Digicel Compound along Rue Jean Paul II near College Canadu-Haitene in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, said the statement.

Cajuste reported figured earlier in a shootout with local police.

Rosete, on the other hand, led another team of Haitian policemen in sealing off the area, thus preventing the suspect from escaping.

“The suspect was bleeding from a bullet wound in the chest sustained in the earlier shootout when captured inside one of the rooms. He yielded a handgun,” said the news release.

Ergo and Rosete, who both serve as technical advisers to the Haitian National Police, are among the 41 PNP officers deployed by the Philippines to help the UN rebuild the capacity of the local police force.

In November, Ergo sustained slight injuries after he and another UN police officer were attacked by anti-UN demonstrators in Port-au-Prince.

The statement said it was not immediately known if Cajuste was a member of the kidnap-for-ransom gang involved in the abduction of two Filipinos in Port-au-Prince last year.

Kidnappers freed the victims, who were abducted near Cite Soleil, after being paid an undetermined amount of money.

In 2005, another Filipino was kidnapped by armed men.

The victim was also freed after ransom was paid his abductors.