Cops Rescue 2 Kidnapped Basilan Officials

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 19, 2008) - Police commandos, backed by government troops, rescued 2 Filipino village officials seized by gunmen in the southern island of Basilan, officials said Saturday.

Officials said security forces clashed with two gunmen who were guarding Pilardo Tolentino and Jayson Constancia in the woods in the town of Mohammad Ajul late Friday. “The two hostages have been recovered safely and reunited with their families,” Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, the provincial police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.

The two men, contracted by telecommunication giant Globe Telecom, were seized July 16 while on their way to inspect a cell site in the town’s Languyan village. The kidnappers had demanded P3 million for the release of the two men and threatened to execute them Friday midnight if the ransom was not paid.

“We tracked down the kidnappers before they could do harm to the hostages. There was a firefight and we rescued the victims,” Macapantar said.

He said the gunmen were able to escape under cover of darkness. There were no reports of casualties on injuries on the side of the raiders.

Macapantar tagged Ikram Saham as the leader of the gang that kidnapped the two village officials. “The kidnappers are plain criminals wanting to get ransom,” he said.

Authorities previously blamed the militant group Abu Sayyaf in the kidnapping.

Last week, suspected Abu Sayyaf militants and rogue members of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front kidnapped and freed four workers of the Basilan Electric Cooperative, Inc. after two weeks in captivity in exchange for a huge ransom.

The freed hostages - brothers Alberto and Emilberto Singson; Paul Herowig and his brother Birin - were released to emissaries of Basilan deputy governor Alrashid Sakalahul.

It was not immediately known whether the ransom paid for the release of the four hostages had influenced criminals to kidnap the village officials.

Basilan Governor Jum Akbar could not be reached for comment on the spate of kidnappings in the island, but reports said the politician had always been out of the province and spent most of her time in Manila.

Akbar is one of four widows of Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, who was killed in a bomb attack last year at the Philippine Congress in Manila. Another widow, Cherry Lyn Akbar, is the mayor of Basilan’s Isabela City. (Mindanao Examiner)