Friday, December 17, 2010

Kidnapped woman found dead in Mindanao


PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 1, 2010) – A Filipino woman kidnapped along with her son was killed by her captors and that her decomposing body was recovered in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Norte, officials said Friday.

Her family said the corpse of Babet Gomonit was discovered in the town of Sultan Naga Dimaporo. The body was discovered after kidnappers sent text messages to the woman’s family saying they dumped the corpse in the province.

“The body was recovered and that the family has already identified the remains of the kidnapped victim,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman.

He said the fate of the woman’s son Cekim remains unknown. Both mother and son were kidnapped late in October in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province. The family car used by the kidnappers to escape was also recovered on a village in the town of Tukuan also in Zamboanga del Sur.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the latest abduction. But there were suspicions that Moro rebels could be involved in the abduction.

Last year, rebels also kidnapped an Italian missionary Father Michael Sinnot inside his house in Pagadian City and freed him a month later in Zamboanga City after private negotiators paid huge ransom.

Kidnappings-for-ransom has become a lucrative business for rebels in Mindanao with most of the collected monies used to purchase weapons in the troubled region in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

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