Kidnapped Maguindanao trader freed

COTABATO CITY—Moro gunmen on Tuesday freed a Chinese-Filipino trader after Moro rebels helping rescue the kidnap victim seized the kidnappers’ relatives to “pressure them.”

Angelina Soken Chew Mantigue, owner of Sam’s Store in Upi, Maguindanao, was taken by gunmen on May 14 and initially brought to a village also in Upi.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, said Mantigue was recovered about 4 a.m. in the marshland of Kabuntalan, another town in Maguindanao.

A brief gunfight between government forces and the kidnappers’ group left a policeman wounded, Asto said.

“We are glad she is with us now,” said lawyer Roland Chew, the victim’s brother.

“We commend our authorities for the (rescue) efforts and our friends for being with us during our period of pain and agony of having a kidnapped loved one,” he said.

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

Kabalu, however, said that prior to the victim’s rescue, MILF guerrillas had taken into custody three relatives of some of the suspects to force the kidnappers to release Mantigue.

“We have in custody three persons,” Kabalu said. “We used them to pressure the suspects to free the victim,” he added.

He said the MILF believes it was one way of addressing kidnappings in Maguindanao. “That really helped,” Kabalu said.

Kabalu said the suspects abandoned Mantigue when they sensed that soldiers and MILF guerrillas were closing in on them.

The MILF has pledged to help in anti-kidnapping efforts as part of its confidence-building measures in connection with on-going peace talks with the government.

Authorities are commending the rebels for their help in rescuing Mantigue.

Criminal syndicates, including rebels, are active in Mindanao. Muslim insurgents have been fighting for self-rule for decades and early this year resumed peace talks with the government.

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