ZAMBOANGA CITY—A teacher first reported missing was confirmed to have been kidnapped, the city’s first kidnapping case in six years.
Maj. Chester Natividad, chief of the city’s police station 4, confirmed the kidnapping after talking with the teacher’s family.
The teacher, Rosina Ejansantos Singua, 58, a public elementary school teachers at the village of Culianan, where she also lives with her family, was first reported missing on Friday, Sept. 27, after her relatives lost contact with her.
On that day, Singua was picked up by a friend, identified only as Ems, to attend a wedding ceremony in Dipolog City, which was eight hours away by bus.
In the evening of Sept. 28, Singua called Sherwin past 9 p.m. to say she had been kidnapped outside a church after attending Mass, according to Major Natividad.
The police officer added that during the call, Singua sought help as her captors were demanding ransom.
After Singua spoke, an unidentified man picked up the phone and warned the family against seeking help from police, according to Natividad’s account of Sherwin’s narration.
The man said another call would be made in four days.
The information provided by the family prompted police to reclassify Singua’s case as kidnapping.
Sherwin reported the case to police despite the warning given by the unidentified man.
Natividad said police are checking passenger manifests of vessels that left for Jolo on Friday and Saturday to determine if Singua had been aboard and possibly brought by her kidnappers to Jolo, a known lair of Abu Sayyaf.
Maj. Arvin John Encinas, Western Mindanao Command spokesperson, said all military units in the area had been put on alert for sightings of Singua and her captors./TSB