Social worker released by Abu Sayyaf kidnappers

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The last of the four social workers snatched by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in Talipao, Sulu, on July 17 has been freed, police said Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, Sulu police director, said in a telephone interview that Robert Saputalo was recovered in Barangay (village) Kagay, also in Talipao, around 10 p.m. Tuesday.

He said based on the account of the freed kidnap victim, his captors set him free in Barangay Danag in Patikul town.

Orbita said Saputalo claimed walking for hours until he reached Barangay Kagay, where he was intercepted by the authorities.

He did not mention anything about ransom, saying only that Saputalo’s release “was due to the pressure of law enforcement operations by our security sector and local government units.”

Orbita said the release of the last social worker-captive came amid an operation against the suspects, who were led by one Enrile Jumayde.

Saputalo, the couple Agustino and Nurhati Sicangco, and Lerma Jurah were conducting a poverty incidence survey in Talipao when they were abducted snatched.

They were workers of the Department of Social Welfare of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

It was ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman who said the abductors were members of the Abu Sayyaf.

Jurah managed to escape captivity shortly after she and her colleagues were taken while the Sicangco couple was released two days later.

A source, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the couple’s kin paid in P200,000 ransom  for their release.

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