ZAMBOANGA CITY – A school teacher was kidnapped over the weekend in Jolo, Sulu, the Bangsa Sug Against Kidnapping and Other Crimes (BassaKao) said Monday.
BassaKao convener Doctor Raden Ikbala identified the victim as Shariff Benjamin Ubaid, a teacher in Luuk. Ikbala said Ubaid was abducted in Jolo last Saturday, September 22, and Bassakao only learned about the incident on Monday afternoon.
Rasul Mitmug, Education Secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said they have so far received only sketchy reports about the abduction. Mitmug said they have yet to get an official report of the incident.
Mitmug lamented that teachers in Sulu have become targets of lawless elements in the areas.
“We are gathering data about this. We received official reports of kidnapping under my term, three cases,” he noted. “There were other abductions but the victims preferred to keep the incident to themselves.”
The military and police in Sulu are still silent over the latest abduction since President Rodrigo Duterte is in Jolo visiting the troops. /kga