Agusan kidnap leader captured

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines—The leader of the Manobo gunmen behind last month’s kidnapping of 16 people—including school officials, teachers and students—in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, has been captured, the police said Friday.

Chief Supt. Reynaldo Rafal, Caraga police director, said Kin-kin Perez and his follower Dodong Sabang were arrested by an elite police team who swooped down on their hideout in Barangay La Purisima at around 11 a.m. on Friday.

Rafal said the arrests were made following a tip off from a civilian about the presence of Perez in the area.

Rafal said Perez and Sabang did not resist arrest but another suspect, identified as Joy Brital, managed to escape.

“Perez is undergoing police interrogation. Our persistence and determination to hold him and his group accountable for kidnapping finally paid off,” Rafal told the Inquirer by phone.

With the arrest of Perez, Rafal said the case against him and his group could now be considered closed and justice would now be served on the victims.

Perez, whose uncle Ondo Perez also staged a similar hostage-taking in 2009 over demands for ancestral domain ownership, and his five armed followers seized 16 people, who attended graduation rites in La Purisima on April 1.

They initially demanded Ondo’s release from jail but the demand was rejected by authorities.

After a five-day standoff, the group abandoned their captives in a forested area of La Purisima.