ZAMBOANGA CITY – Suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits had freed the school principal they abducted in Sulu more than twelve hours after snatching her on Thursday.
Esquierdo Jumadain, focal person of the Department of Education’s Disaster Risk and Reduction Management (DepEd-DRRM) for the Sulu division, said Marjorie Abdul, the school head of Liang Elementary School under the West District of Patikul town, was released around 11 p.m. after her relatives paid an unspecified amount to the kidnappers.
He said Abdul, 58, was freed in an area of Patikul known to locals as Dan Puti.
“She was freed through negotiations conducted by her relatives,” Jumadain said.
Abdul, a resident of Gornez in Patikul, was inside her office when armed men barged in and forcibly took her away around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
A military official, who did not want to be identified for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the group behind Abdul’s abduction was led by a certain Suraka and Edimar Hayudini.
Jumadain said Abdul was the second DepEd personnel abducted in Sulu this month.
He, however, said the fate of Sitti Dormis Hamsirano, a 46-year-old teacher of the Matatal Elementary School in Maimbung, remained uncertain as of Friday since being abducted on March 8.
Jumadain said the kidnappers had demanded a P2-million ransom for Hamsirano’s liberty. /kga