WHAT WENT BEFORE
On Jan. 15, 2009, three aid workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross were abducted by members of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu.
The hostages—Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba—were snatched at gunpoint on their way to the Jolo Airport after they had visited the provincial jail to inspect a water and sanitation project for the inmates.
Lacaba was freed on April 2, 2009. Two days later, the Philippine National Police charged three police offcers, two barangay chiefs and alleged Abu Sayyaf members with kidnapping for ransom.
Notter was rescued on April 18, 2009, in the town of Indanan. It was unclear whether he was rescued by government troops or released by his Abu Sayyaf captors. Vagni was freed on July 12, 2009.—INQUIRER RESEARCH
Source: Inquirer Archives
