The Philippines: The Case of the Missing Groom

Who kidnaped President Marcos' new "son-in-law"?

The couple dined quietly two nights before New Year's at Manila's cozy Las Conchas restaurant. Later, Maria Imelda ("Imee") Marcos, 26, said good night and, escorted by a motorcade of security men, returned dutifully to Malacañang Palace, bastion of her father, President Ferdinand Marcos. Meanwhile the man she had secretly wed on Dec. 4 in Arlington, Va., Tomas ("Tommy") Manotoc, 32, amateur golf champion and basketball coach, drove off alone in his 1977 white Mitsubishi Galant Sigma and disappeared.

Four days later, a message offered to free Manotoc in return for the release of four jailed...