Gunmen still hold son of ex-soldier
COTABATO CITY—The 19-year-old college student seized by gunmen on Saturday night in Midsayap, North Cotabato remained in captivity, police here said.
Supt. Reynante delos Santos, Midsayap police chief, told a local radio station that Mark Anthony Baya remained in the hands of his captors, clarifying reports he was abandoned in the outskirts of Midsayap.
“We are still conducting follow operations,” Delos Santos said, hinting he might have been misquoted.
Col. Dickson Hermoso, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers of the 40th Infantry Battalion are backing up the police in the manhunt.
Baya, college student of Notre Dame of Midsayap College, was attending to the family owned buy and sell business in Barangay Tumbras, Midsayap when four men on board an old Mitsubishi sedan arrived, and at gunpoint, forced him into the car at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Baya is a son of retired Army Sgt. Balong Baya, now a village councilman.
They then sped toward the riverbank in the boundary of Midsayap and Datu Piang, Maguindanao where a motorized banca was waiting.
Pursuing joint elements of Midsayap PNP and 40th Infantry Battalion recovered the abandoned get-away car.
The family is yet to receive word from the abductors.
Police remained clueless on the motive of the abduction since the teenager has no known enemies.
Military and police intelligence forces said the abduction could be a diversionary tactic by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who, hours earlier on Saturday attacked nearby Barangay Baliki, Midsayap, torched two houses and brought with them work animals of Muslim villagers.
As the military launched pursuit operations and fired mortars toward the BIFF guerrillas, their colleagues carried out the abduction to divert attention.
More police and Army checkpoints have been set up around Midsayap where bombings and harassment have occurred the past few days.
Curfew hours from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. remained in effect.
The police and military action against the kidnappers was conducted even as soldiers continued to battle BIFF gunmen, who attacked villages in the borders of Aleosan and Pikit towns on Friday.
Three BIFF members have so far been killed in the clashes while two soldiers were also injured.
In Zamboanga City, suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen also abandoned a 45-year-old woman on Thursday, whom they abducted from Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte, on Aug. 3.
Authorities reported the arrest of a kidnap suspect, said to be involved in the kidnapping several months ago of Jeffrey Lim, mayor of Salug, Zamboanga Sibugay, and other victims from that province, on the same day.
Zamboanga City police chief Senior Supt. Jose Chiquito Malayo identified the freed victim as Viviana Acas of Barangay Situbo in Tampilisan.
Quoting the victim, Malayo said she was abducted by four armed men aboard a bus while she was heading home from Liloy town, also in Zamboanga del Norte.
“She was forced to board another bus for Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, and then transferred to another vehicle. They also demanded that the woman produce some amount for her liberty,” Malayo said.
He said Acas was able to produce only P7,000 because it was the only amount she had on her pocket.
The abductors, Malayo said, held on to her as they demanded more.
“She was held for six days here before releasing her (on Aug. 8),” Malayo said.
Acas and Malayo were mum if ransom were paid to the abductors.
Malayo also declined to provide additional details on the identity or location of the suspects.
“We cannot release yet the identities and exact place as our enforcers are trying to capture them,” he said.
In Zamboanga Sibugay, Lt. Col. Yegor Rey Baraquillo Jr., commander of the 44th Infantry Battalion, said the collared kidnap suspect heads “a notorious gang that operates in Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.
Baranquillo said Sehar Muloc, the prime suspect in Lim’s kidnapping, was arrested by joint elements of the Naval Intelligence and Security Group, the 102nd Infantry Brigade and the Zamboanga Sibugay police office near the Pasalubong Center in Poblacion, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, past noon of Aug. 8.
Edwin Fernandez, Williamor Magbanua and Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao