Kidnapped woman escapes from captors in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – An 18-year-old kidnap victim from Pitogo town in Zamboanga del Sur escaped from her captors in Sulu on Monday afternoon.

Col. Allan Arrojado, commanding officer of the Joint Task Group Sulu, identified the victim as Ledegie Tomarong, who was kidnapped with two other children in Pitogo on March 31.

One of the children, two-year-old Zynielle Garban was found dead in a shore in Pitogo days after the abduction. Her brother, 3-year-old Ace Jay, remains in captivity.

Arrojado said Tomarong was able to escape from her captors who were “overwhelmed and surprised by the presence of the operating military troops in the vicinities of Barangays Kagay and Sawaki, all of Indanan town.”

Arrojado said troops from the 35th Infantry Battalion hit the lair of the bandits who “hastily abandoned their camp thus giving Tomarong an opportunity to escape from her captors.”

A resident found Garban, who appeared lost and confused, in the village of Buanza in Indanan late Monday afternoon.