No ransom paid for release of kidnapped woman, says family

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — No ransom was paid for the release of beauty specialist Sabrina Voon here on Wednesday afternoon, the victim’s family said.

Retired General Sukarno Ikbala, Voon’s uncle, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that the family did not pay a single centavo to the kidnappers.

In a Facebook post, Dr. Raden Ikbala, also an uncle of the victim, said: “Alhamdulillah no ransom was paid. In fact, the kidnappers gave her P100 for tricycle fare.”

Voon, a consultant for an imported beauty product, was taken from their house in Mercedes village here last February 19.

Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro, the city police chief, said Voon was released in the seaside village of Baliwasan, where she took a tricycle.

While traveling, she saw her family’s helpers and the family vehicle at the Guiwan market, Casimiro said.

The retired general told the Inquirer by phone that they received prior information that Voon was to be freed in Baliwasan. “We went there but there was no Sabrina. Then we received word from one of the family drivers that she was spotted near the flea market,” he said.

Ikbala said Voon was freed due to pressures made by the military and police.

Last month, police raided two suspected safehouses in the villages of Tumaga and Santa Maria here, leaving two suspects dead and four others arrested.

Ikbala said among those killed and arrested were members of the police force in Lamitan, Basilan, while another was a village chair in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

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