ZAMBOANGA CITY – (UPDATE) Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Basilan beheaded a 61-year-old man who was abducted from this city about three weeks ago, the police said.

Police Director Felizardo Serapio, Western Mindanao police chief for integrated operations, said the severed head of Dorotheo Gonzales was recovered in an area of Akbar town in Basilan around 8 p.m., Sunday.

He said the Gonzales’ family has confirmed that the severed head, now in the custody of the Lamitan police, belonged to the victim.

The Abu Sayyaf allegedly wanted P25 million for the freedom of Gonzales, a carpenter.

Serapio said authorities were trying to track the kidnappers.

It was not clear if Gonzales' abductors were the same group holding at least six teachers from Landang Gua Island here and Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay.

The Abu Sayyaf, a self-styled Islamist group, operates by cell. It became notorious for its high-profile kidnappings and the beheadings of some of its victims.

Among the victims killed by the group was American Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded in June 2001.

Bernard Gonzales, the victim’s son, said the kidnappers first demanded P25 million ransom, then reduced it to P5 million and then days before the beheading, to P500,000.

Basilan Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul, head of the province’s crisis management committee, said he was still investigating what drove the Abu Sayyaf to behead Gonzales on Sunday.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, who went with Bernard Gonzales to Basilan Monday, said the victim’s body had yet to be found.

Lobregat admitted that the beheading caused alarm among families of the remaining kidnap victims.

Ray-an Mayonado, brother of kidnapped teacher Raphael Mayonado, again appealed for the abductors’ mercy.

“We don’t have money to give to the kidnappers,” he said.

“Apple [Raphael] is our only hope to enjoy good life,” he added.