Contact with mayor held by Sayyaf cut

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Offers to help are pouring in for a kidnapped mayor who is now believed to be in a lair of the crime and terror group Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province, according to officials.

Councilor Julius Cayon, head of the crisis management committee of Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay province, said people are approaching the family of kidnapped Mayor Gemma Adana offering to help.

Cayon could not provide more details.

He said, however, that the mayor had been taken by her captors to Sulu and “we no longer have access to information.”

“The family is now handling the situation,” said Cayon.

Abu Sayyaf is demanding P100 million in ransom for Adana. A group of law enforcers is now helping the Adana family, said Cayon.

Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, head of the military’s Western Mindanao Command based here, said Adana is being held by a Sulu-based faction of the Abu Sayyaf after her kidnapping by the Zamboanga Sibugay-based Waning Abdusalam Group.

“We have received reports since two weeks ago that she is now in the hands of the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group),” he said.

Guerrero also confirmed that negotiations are being handled by the Philippine National Police, through its Anti-Kidnapping Group.

He said the military is working closely with the police for the rescue of Adana and also of three foreign captives who are still in the hands of Abu Sayyaf.

Among those still in captivity is bird watcher and Dutch national Ewold Horn, who was kidnapped in Tawi-Tawi in 2012. Horn’s companion, Lorenzo Vinciguerra, had escaped from the bandit group in December last year. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao