Maguindanao kidnappers release grocery store owner

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—(UPDATE) Kidnappers released early Tuesday a Chinese-Filipino grocery store owner they kidnapped in Maguindanao ten days ago—after Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas working in tandem with government authorities captured relatives of the kidnappers to pressure them into releasing the victim, a rebel official said.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, confirmed that Angelina Soken Chew Mantigue, 54, owner of Sam’s Store in Poblacion Nuro, Upi, Maguindanao, was recovered about 4 a.m. in the marshes of Kabuntalan in Maguindanao.

Mantigue was forcibly taken by gunmen at about 3 p.m. on May 14 while she was tending her store. A policeman was wounded in a brief shootout with the kidnappers soon after the abduction.

“We are glad she is with us now. We commend our authorities for the efforts and our friends for being with us during our period of pain and agony of having a kidnapped loved one,” said lawyer Roland Chew, the victim’s brother.

Eid Kabalu, civil-military affairs chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said soldiers and MILF guerrillas worked side by side to locate and recover the victim.

He said the gunmen abandoned Mantigue when they sensed that a team of soldiers and rebels was closing in on them.

But Kabalu said that prior to the recovery of the victim, the rebels took into custody three relatives of some of the suspected kidnappers to force them to release the businesswoman.

“We have in custody three persons. We used them to pressure the suspects to free the victim,” Kabalu said, adding the MILF believed it was one way of addressing kidnappings in Maguindanao.

“That really helped,” Kabalu said.

He said said members of the MILF ceasefire committee were to take up the matter of the detained relatives with government authorities as the rebel group considered them as kidnapping suspects as well.

The MILF has pledged to help the government’s anti-kidnapping efforts in line with the rebel group’s commitment to the resumption of peace talks with the government.

Meanwhile, another trader, Eulogio Adin Yu, owner of a hardware store in Cotabato City, remained in the hands of his captors. He was seized on January 8.

Originally posted 9:12 am | Tuesday, May 24th, 2011