The New People's Army, the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, in 1987 received $10 million (1.2 billion yen) in ransom for Nobuyuki Wakaoji, then chief of the Manila branch of Mitsui & Co., who was kidnapped in 1986 and released the following year, the party said Sunday.
The major trading house has avoided commenting on whether and how much it paid for Wakaoji's release.
The CPP's statement was the first-ever admission by the Communist Party over the NPA's involvement in the high-profile kidnapping.
The revelation was made in a statement in which the Communist Party claimed responsibility for the assassination of a former guerrilla chief, saying he was guilty of numerous crimes, including Wakaoji's 1986 kidnapping.
CPP spokesman Gregorio Rosal said that a special NPA unit killed Romulo Kintanar. Kintanar, a former NPA leader, was having lunch in a Japanese restaurant in the suburbs of Quezon City on Thursday when he was shot dead. His attackers escaped.
Rosal said the assassination was for Kintanar's "serious criminal accountabilities to the revolutionary movement and to the people."
Wakaoji was abducted in November 1986 in Laguna Province, about 55 km south of Manila, and was released four months later. He returned to Japan and passed away in 1989.
The communists had consistently denied involvement in the abduction. There is speculation the Japanese Red Army was involved.
In the statement, the CPP said Kintanar orchestrated the abduction of Wakaoji without approval from the party headquarters, and that his group received $10 million in ransom payments.