Gunmen kidnap village chief in south Philippines

By Hader Glang & Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

Gunmen clad in military and police uniforms seized a village chief and two coast guards on a southern Philippine beach resort early Monday.

Police Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, Police Regional Information Office 9 chief, told The Anadolu Agency that Roberto Buligao of Aliguay Island, off the coast of Dapitan city, were abducted by around 15 unidentified gunmen at the village hall at 1.50 a.m. (1850GMT).

“The abductors armed with long firearms were clad in camouflage uniforms and they forced their hostages to board a motorized pump boat which immediately left the area toward southern part of Zamboanga del Norte [province]," he said.

Police said the armed men had introduced themselves as police and military personnel and asked about the presence of some tourists before kidnapping Buligao and officers Rodlyn Pagaling and Gringo Villaruz – who were not carrying their service firearms at the time.

The abduction is the first in Dapitan, home to two high-end resorts frequented by foreign and domestic tourists.

According to local media, the abductors are believed to be members of an al-Qaeda-linked group based in Sulu province – a known threshold of the Abu Sayyaf.

Jimmy Berbo, coast guard commander in Zamboanga City and the Basulta area, told reporters that personnel in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi had been alerted to rescue the hostages.

An ABS-CBN report said the group has been linked to a series of kidnap-for-ransom incidents involving middle-class victims and foreign nationals in the Basulta area and the Zamboanga peninsula.

Meanwhile, an employee of a mining company was abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen late Sunday in Tawi-Tawi, local RMN News Radio reported.

It quoted officials of the military's Western Mindanao Command as saying Nonong Garcia was seized by men wearing camouflage and balaclava masks shortly before midnight at a beachside inn in Simandagit village, and dragged to a speedboat that headed for Languyan island.

Last month, kidnap-for-ransom gunmen seized a town mayor in neighboring Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Gemma Adana of Naga town is believed to have been turned over from her original kidnappers to the Abu Sayyaf, with a P100 million ($22.4 million) ransom demanded in exchange for her safe release.

Adana was with her family, friends and visitors at her home in Taytay Manubo village when gunmen barged in April 6 and seized her, dragging her to a twin engine speedboat.

Kidnap-for-ransom gangs frequently operate in Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi. The gangs are known to hand over their captives to Abu Sayyaf and negotiate for a ransom that, if paid, is shared with the group.

The kidnappers use isolated sea-lanes and coastal areas to grab their victims, who are then held captive in isolated Muslim villages in the peninsula.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.

It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.