2 teachers kidnapped in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Two teachers working for a Catholic charity have been reported kidnapped in Lantawan, Basilan, on Wednesday even as police are hard put to solve similar attacks on educators in other parts of Mindanao.

Attacks targeting teachers and educators have claimed the lives of four people since last month and are still being investigated.

The latest kidnap victims are Frederick Banot and Cherden Masong, who both work for Charity Children Foundation Inc. and are residents of Maluso town, said Basilan police chief Senior Supt. Mario Dapillosa.

The two teachers were going home to Maluso and were about to board a boat at the Pangasaan wharf in Barangay Taisan, Lantawan, when gunmen took them at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Dapillosa said.

“I am so sad with what happened to the two poor NGO (nongovernment organization) workers whose main goal is to help uplift the dignity of the Badjaos,” said Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad.

He said Banot and Masong, who teach day care pupils in Lantawan, were also members of Claret Samal Foundation Inc.

Jumoad said he thought that the close partnership the Church had with police and military authorities would lead to the protection of social workers.

“I am frustrated to think that we work hard in partnership with men and women in uniform so that Basilan may be liberated from lawless elements,” he said.

Attacks on teachers working for both private and public schools have been reported in various parts of Mindanao in recent months.

Just last week, two teachers were killed in an attack in Lamitan, Basilan. Rodolfo and Gloria Saavedra, and Joy Cubico, who were teachers at Kaumpurnah Elementary School, were on their way home to Isabela, Basilan, when they were attacked by armed men on Aug. 26. The Saavedras died on the spot while Cubico was wounded in the attack.

On Aug. 21, a lone gunman shot dead Dennis Ugong, a teacher of Lun Padidu Elementary School in Malapatan town in Sarangani province.

On Aug. 4, three Cotabato City-based Arabic schoolteachers were killed while another survived an ambush in Libungan, North Cotabato.

Chief Insp. Bernard Tayong, Libungan police director, said the fatalities—Usman Badtingo, Usman Abdulla and Abdulla Guiamel, all teachers of an Arabic school and residents of Campo Muslim—were on board two motorcycles heading for Pikit town when they were attacked at about 3 p.m. on Aug. 4.

Another teacher, Abdurakman al-Taib, who survived the ambush, told police he had no idea why they were attacked, as they had no known enemies.

On June 16, Lilia Pendatun, caretaker of a public school district office in SK Pendatun, Maguindanao, was wounded in an ambush by still unidentified men.

The ambush on Pendatun came barely a month after her predecessor, Abas Minso, was killed in a similar attack two days before the May elections.

On June 16, Dr. Cynthia Alpas, human resource management chief of the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato, was also shot and injured by motorcycle-riding men. Julie Alipala, with reports from Edwin Fernandez, Williamor Magbanua and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao