MANILA, Philippines -- It won’t be as big as the mass actions held at Manila's Liwasang Bonifacio or Makati's central business district. But the Department of Education office in Zamboanga Sibugay is confident the interfaith rally it plans to Thold shortly in Ipil, the provincial capital, would produce “positive results.”

At least 4,000 people from different faiths, including both Christian and Muslim, are “expected to take part in the prayer rally. They will join DepEd personnel in appealing for the release of the kidnapped teachers,” said Grace Jugno, DepEd-Zamboanga Sibugay administrative officer, in a telephone interview with the Inquirer.

Jugno was referring to Jocelyn Enriquez, Jocelyn Inion and Noime Mandi, abducted 114 days ago by bandits off the nearby coastal municipality of Naga.

Last March 13, the public school teachers were on board a motor boat from Bangkaw Bangkaw Elementary School en route to Naga town proper when the gunmen seized them.

The kidnappers had demanded a P10 million ransom in exchange for their release.

Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus has expressed full support for the planned mass action.

“To pray and plead for the release of our kidnapped teachers is, under the circumstances, our DepEd family's only means to help them,” Lapus told the Inquirer on Saturday.

Lapus noted the agency's Sagip Guro Movement “also calls for prayers during flag ceremonies in elementary and high schools nationwide.”

According to Lapus, they “continue to call for the release of our teachers. We are working with the Zamboanga Sibugay crisis management committee (CMC), led by Gov. George Hofer, who are doing their best to ensure the safe release of the kidnapped teachers.... We are waiting for news from them.”

Lapus earlier instructed Ramon Bacani, undersecretary of education for regional operations, and the DepEd-Region 9 office in Pagadian City to coordinate with the CMC and assist the families of the kidnap victims.

In a statement, Lapus said they were “deeply concerned with the safety of our teachers. In taking them, the children under their care are deprived of the education they so rightfully deserve.”

He also advised DepEd personnel “not to take unnecessary risks. They should observe precautions. It is also important for them to have good relations with the community.”

Banditry, particularly kidnap-for-ransom, is rapidly becoming a cottage industry in Western Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

On April 4, 1995, breakaway elements of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group raided the predominantly Christian town of Ipil, leaving at least 58 people dead and 48 others wounded.

Jugno also told the Inquirer she and other DepEd staff were set to leave for a remote village in Naga to “get proof of life” of the kidnapped teachers.

“We'll meet with some barangay officials there.... We're doing it on our own initiative,” Jugno said.

The CMC had earlier asked DepEd personnel to refrain from communicating with the kidnappers. The kidnappers “used to contact one of our colleagues by phone until that order (from the CMC)came.... We haven't had any contacts with them since last April,” said another DepEd-Zamboanga Sibugay staff member.

Unconfirmed reports said the kidnapped victims had ben “separated into two groups - two in Basilan and one here in Sibugay,” the same source added.

Last week, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno told reporters the kidnappers were holding the three teachers in a Moro Islamic Liberation Front camp in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Puno, however, clarified he was not saying MILF rebels were involved in the teachers' abduction.

The Bangkaw Bangkaw Elementary School teachers' abduction was the second kidnapping incident in the Zamboanga Peninsula this year.

On Jan. 23, Landang-gua Elementary School teachers Jeanette de los Reyes, Rachel Mayorada and Freires Quizon were on their way to work when they were intercepted by bandits and taken to nearby Basilan Island. They were released last May 27.