4 Indonesian kidnap survivors look forward to going home

VIRUS-FREE Showing swab test results indicating they are negative for COVID-19, the rescued Indonesian nationals say they are excited to go home after more than a year of captivity in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group. —JULIE ALIPALA

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The four Indonesian nationals who survived more than a year in the hands of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf are now looking forward to going home.

“I want to go home to my family to share our stories with them,” said 15-year-old Mohammad Khairuldin Bin Yai Kii, who was rescued on Sunday, in Tawi-Tawi province and was brought to this city to join his three fellow captives rescued days earlier in the same province.

The four Indonesians were turned over on Monday to Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who would accompany them to their embassy in Metro Manila.

Speaking in fluent Tausug, a language which he said he learned from his captors while held in Sulu province for 426 days, Khairuldin said he only joined the fishing expedition with his uncle Arshad Bin Dahalan, the boat captain, to help his family earn a living.

He was among the eight Indonesian fishermen kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf off Tambisan, Malaysia, on Jan. 17, last year. Three were freed on the day of the kidnapping but five, including Khairuldin, were brought to Sulu.

The approach

One of the five, Edi Lawalopo La Baa, attempted to escape at the height of an encounter between the Abu Sayyaf and government troops on Sept. 29 last year and was killed as a result.

The wooden hull (jungkong) that the Abu Sayyaf was using capsized off Pasigan Island, South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi on the night of March 18, which eventually led to the rescue of three Indonesians—Arshad Bin Dahalan, 43, boat captain; Riswanto Bin Hayono, 27; Arizal Kastamiran, 29. Kharuldin was rescued three days later near an island off mainland Tawi-Tawi.

Hayono said they already missed their family and were looking forward to seeing them again.

“We are happy that we are going home in time for Ramadan,” Hayono said in Bahasa, translated by a female interpreter.

He said that after their ordeal, they would look for a stable job in Sabah, Malaysia, where they live.“[The rescue was the product] of the whole-of-the-nation approach,” Sobejana said. “It was not just the police and the military [who rescued them], but civilians [and the community also] played a big role for their freedom.”

COVID-19-free

“Villagers reported their presence that [eventually] led to their rescue and the arrest of their captors,” said Police Lt. Gen. Cesar Binag, deputy chief of Philippine National Police operations.

The Abu Sayyaf members rescued from the capsized boat and subsequently held were Sahud Salisim, also known as Ben Wagas; Injimar Mangkabong, aka Bensal Jakare; and an Abu Mike, who died on Sunday due to multiple gunshot wounds.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, officially turned over the four survivors to Sobejana on Sunday at the Eisenhower Hall inside the Westmincom but only after their swabs were taken and tested negative for COVID-19.

“I now hand over the healthy and COVID-19-free Indonesians rescued from the hands of the Abu Sayyaf,” Vinluan said after military doctors in Sulu and Zamboanga City examined the survivors. “The results are negative and they are healthy.” —JULIE ALIPALA