ZAMBOANGA CITY -- AFTER A 20-minute clash, police on Friday night rescued two kidnap victims in Basilan.
Senior Supt. Salik Macapantar, Basilan police chief, said members of the 1518th Provincial Mobile Group rescued Pilardo Tolentino and Jayson Constancia in a forested area in the village of Bohe Bessey in Muhamad Adjul town at around 10 p.m. Friday.
Tolentino and Constancia were kidnapped on July 16. Their abductors were demanding P3 million in ransom.
Macapantar said Tolentino had bruises he suffered from being hit with an M-16 rifle by his abductors.
Minors
Macapantar said a civilian informant on Thursday told police of the kidnappers’ hideout in the said village.
Tolentino, in a phone interview, said most of their captors were minors.
“For two days we see different faces. Most of them were very young,” he said.
Tolentino said he works for the Cagayan de Oro City-based Power City Company, delivering 1,000 liters of diesel to the Globe Telecom’s tower in Basilan.
He said he and his driver, Constancia, were abducted near Globe Telecom’s tower in the village of Languyan in Muhamad Adjul town.
Tolentino and Constancia are village councilors of Switch Yakal in Lantawan town.
“I will no longer deliver diesel to Languyan,” Tolentino vowed.
Kidnappers flee
Police said officers clashed with the gunmen holding the two employees and drove the captives to safety.
“The two hostages have been recovered safely and reunited with their families,” said one police officer, confirming the freeing of the two men abducted on July 16.
However, the gunmen managed to escape under the cover of darkness. There were no reports of casualties or injuries on either side, police said.
Muslim extremists, known to kidnap Christians and foreigners in Mindanao for ransom, were suspected to be behind the seizure of the two which was the latest in a rash of abductions in the area.
Just weeks ago, a Muslim extremist gang seized and then freed five electricity workers on the island, reportedly receiving a hefty ransom as well.
Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao with a report from Inquirer wires
