ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Armed men freed an engineer they abducted early this month in Basilan.
Brig. Gen. Alexander Macario, chief of Task Force Basilan, said construction engineer Virgilio Fernandez was freed in Tipo-Tipo town at around 9 a.m. Sunday.
“He is with me right now,” Macario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone Sunday noon.
Macario, however, refused to give details of the release as the victim had not undergone debriefing by then.
Fernandez, a Cebu City-based road contractor, was abducted in the village of Kaddayan in Akbar town on June 3.
Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay said the kidnappers negotiated directly with the victim’s family who went to Basilan last week.
Macario said Fernandez lost weight. “I was informed that the day he was kidnapped he was 160 pounds, now he is around 140 pounds. But he looks healthy.”