Abu Sayyaf hostage freed in southern Philippines

ISABELA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 01, 2009) – Kidnappers freed a nine-year old boy on Wednesday after two months in captivity in the southern Filipino province of Basilan, officials said.

Officials said Chester Gruta was released to negotiators sent by Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay in the town of Mohamad Adjul shortly before 4 p.m.

“There was no ransom paid for the freedom of the boy. This was the result of long negotiations with the kidnappers,” Furigay’s aide, Nick Catsro, told reporters.

He said the boy was reunited with his family and will be brought to Zamboanga City for a medical examination. “Mayor Furigay is happy with the release of the boy,” he said.

Castro did not name the negotiators, but said Furigay tapped them to seek the freed of Gruta, who was kidnapped while buying a bottle of vinegar at a store in Lamitan City.
Police linked the Abu Sayyaf group to the kidnapping of the boy.

The group is also holding three government teachers Quizon G. Freires, 28; Janette C. Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael L. Mayonado, 24, kidnapped in January in Zamboanga City and a lending firm collector Leah Patris, seized near Basilan’s Maluso town in February and a Sri Lankan national, Umar Jaleel, a member of the international peace advocate group called Nonviolent Peaceforce, who was kidnapped in February 13 in Lamitan City.

The kidnappers demanded millions of pesos in ransom for the safe release of the hostages. (Mindanao Examiner)

Boy kidnapped in Basilan Island

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 01, 2009) – Gunmen abducted a nine-year old boy in Lamitan City in the southern Filipino province of Basilan, police said Sunday.

Police said the boy, Chester Gruta, was just buying a bottle of vinegar at a store in Lamitan City late Saturday when the assailants seized him and fled on a motorcycle. “There is a police operation now to locate the boy,” Chief Supt. Bensali Jabarani, the regional police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said police is still investigating the motive of the abduction and that he ordered additional patrol in Basilan.

Jabarani appealed to the public to stay vigilant in the wake of the spate of kidnappings in Basilan, one of six provinces under the restive Muslim autonomous region.

“Citizens should stay vigilant and report any suspicious persons to the authorities,” he said.

Last Wednesday, a midwife, Elizar Gomera, 45, was also kidnapped in Lamitan City.

No group claimed responsibility for the latest kidnapping, but authorities previously blamed the Abu Sayyaf as behind the spate of kidnappings. The Abu Sayyaf is believed to be holding a bakery owner Eliseo Hablo and three government teachers Freires Quizon, Janette delos Reyes and Rafael Mayorada – all kidnapped in Zamboanga City and brought by boat to Basilan island.

The group holding the teachers has demanded P6 million in exchange for the freedom of the hostages, but authorities said the government has a strict no-ransom policy and ruled out payments of ransom to the kidnappers.

Police said the latest kidnapping could be the handiwork of criminal gangs victimizing innocent civilians in an effort to raise ransom for the purchase of weapons and to finance future operations.

More than a dozen people had been kidnapped in Basilan and Zamboanga City in recent months and most of those freed had paid millions of pesos in ransoms. (Mindanao Examiner)