JOLO, SULU ? Gunmen snatched a Chinese-Filipino businesswoman here on Monday, police said.

Senior Supt. Julasirim Kasim, provincial police chief, said Rosalie Lao, 58, was on her way home from her store when abducted near Kakugayan Village.

Police chased a yellow Tamaraw van that the abductors used but lost track of it near Barangay Danag in Patikul town, said Senior Insp. Usman Pingay, town police chief.

Pingay said the kidnappers had not yet contacted the family.

Lao owns a store at the Barter Trade Center.

In Bongao, Tawi-tawi, killers of Oblate priest Reynaldo Roda have demanded P1 million in exchange for the release of a teacher they abducted during the killing.

Supt. Wainwright Taup, Tawi-tawi police chief, said the Abu Sayyaf had sent him a ransom note asking for P1 million for the release of Omar Taup.

Omar was taken as the gunmen fled after shooting and killing Roda on Jan. 15.

Taup said the victim, a distant relative of his, was ?begging me to produce the ransom.?

?But we will not pay up,? the officer said.

In Cotabato City, police said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels kidnapped three persons in Mamasapano, Shariff Aguak, on Jan. 24.

Supt. Danilo Bacas, spokesperson of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, identified the victims as Christopher Lamigo, 29, Jeffrey Becera, 31, and Mark Badia, 28, all of Cotabato City.

The victims, he said, were selling frozen foods manufactured by Nestle Philippines when taken by the MILF rebels in Barangay Tukanalipao at around 9 a.m.

Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military affairs chief, said the vendors were ?just invited? for questioning after MILF rebels suspected that they were military agents.

The vendors were eventually freed, he said. ?They were unharmed and no ransom was asked before they were turned over to the IMT (International Monitoring Team).?

The family of engineer Morcid Taguitis, who went missing in Jolo on Oct. 30, has filed a writ of amparo against the military and police in Zamboanga City.

Taguitis, who works for a project funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) of Jeddah, was earlier thought to have been abducted by Abu Sayyaf bandits.

A few weeks after his disappearance, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan said Taguitis? abduction appeared to be fake. He said the missing engineer could have stolen funds related to his work with the IDB.

But the Taguitis family said they believed he was being held by authorities against his will, Kasim said.