Kidnap victim released after payment of money

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The son of a village official in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, who was abducted on March 11, was freed Saturday after his family gave money to the captors, police said.

Senior Superintendent Ruben Cariaga, Zamboanga Sibugay police director, said  Mel John Auditor, 21, son of Magdaup village councilor Gabriel Auditor, was handed over by soldiers to his parents after  picking him up in a remote area of Payao town, also in Zamboanga Sibugay, around 5:45 a.m.

“We were informed that the parents of Mel John paid P70,000 as board and lodging fee to the kidnappers,” Cariaga said.

But another source said the Auditors paid P200,000 to the kidnappers.

Cariaga said the Auditor family sought the military’s help in fetching the captive from Bunawan after being informed he would be released Saturday.

“Immediately, troops from 16th Special Forces responded and went to the area. The troops returned to their headquarters with the kidnap victim at around 5:45 a.m.,” Cariaga said.

Colonel Gerry Barrientos, commander of the Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade, said the younger Auditor appeared “okay but very pale and thin.”

In his version of Auditor’s recovery, Barrientos never said anything about ransom.

He said soldiers, acting on a tip-off, went to Bulawan in Payao and caught up with a group of armed men, who “hastily fled from their harbor area and abandoned a captive.”

He said that captive was Auditor, who was “trapped inside a fish cage.”

Barrientos said Auditor was turned over to his parents in the presence of Zamboanga Sibugay Governor Rommel Jalosjos.

He said the identity of the group that held Auditor was not clear yet.

“We will soon have the data after Auditor’s debriefing,” Barrientos said.

In previous incidents of kidnapping in Western Mindanao, authorities consistently blamed the Abu Sayyaf. These included the December abduction of Australian Richard Warren Rodwell.