Mindanao kidnappings continue as gunmen seize another victim

COTABATO CITY—Kidnappings continue with impunity in North Cotabato with one more victim seized by gunmen, a relative of a mayor of one of the province’s towns.

Authorities said the latest kidnapping happened yesterday when unidentified gunmen seized a man mistaken to be the son of Mayor Loreto Cabaya of Aleosan, North Cotabato.

Not everything was bad news on the kidnapping front, however. On Friday, a kidnapping victim was released by his captors, according to police.

Chief Supt. Elpidio De Asis, Western Mindanao police chief, identified the released kidnap victim as Monalisa Capa, who was snatched in Pitogo, Zamboanga del Sur, on Oct. 18.

Errand boy

De Asis attributed the release of Capa to the help given by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front through the guerrilla group’s ad hoc joint action group.

It was not clear whether ransom was paid in Capa’s case or who the kidnappers were.

In the Aleosan case, Mayor Cabaya said a certain Romy, 23, who run errands for the mayor, was returning from nearby Midsayap town on a motorcycle driven by another man when abducted by armed men around 2 a.m.

The suspects stopped the motorcycle carrying Romy “and declared a kidnapping,” said Cabaya.

The driver of the motorcycle Romy was riding reported the kidnapping to the police, the mayor said.

Cabaya said it was the driver who told police the kidnappers thought they got his son.

“They were after my son Jayson,” he told the Inquirer.

Resurgence

Police and military authorities had launched a rescue operation for the victim, Cabaya added.

The abduction of Cabaya’s relative was the latest case in the resurgence of kidnappings in Central Mindanao this year.

In September, authorities also rescued a girl nine hours after she was seized in Pikit, North Cotabato.

In May, authorities claimed to have scored a victory against kidnapping when three suspected gang members were killed following the foiled snatching in Midsayap, North Cotabato, of hardware store owner Frank Chung. Another gang member was arrested.

The battle against kidnappers in Mindanao has been going on for years now.

In the western side of the island, the Abu Sayyaf was responsible for kidnappings while in other parts of Mindanao, the Pentagon Gang was the usual suspect.

Protected

The former police chief of Cotabato City—where majority of the kidnappings in Central Mindanao had occurred—said the campaign against kidnap groups was difficult because influential persons in government, including politicians, were behind them.

Senior Supt. Willie Dangane said suspected kidnappers—including those arrested in General Santos City on Jan. 10—had signed confessions that they belonged to a syndicate being run or protected by government men.

“Allegations of involvement of these people are based on sworn affidavits of arrested suspects and other witnesses who are willing to testify in court,” Dangane said.

Dangane said this was the main reason kidnappings persist in Central Mindanao. Edwin Fernandez and Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao