Family of missing Maguindanao cop says son is safe

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 26, 2010) – A police officer who was reported to have gone missing is safe and now in the custody of the Department of Justice, his family said Tuesday.

Officials said Inspector Ariel Diongon left the main police headquarters in Camp Crame in Manila on January 21 and did not return since then. Diongon, commander of the Maguindanao provincial police mobile group, has been in police custody since last year after the gruesome murders of 26 innocent civilians and at least 31 journalists accompanying a political caravan in the province on November 23.

Police in the southern Philippines ordered a massive search for Diongon who is a probable key government witness to the brutal slayings.

"Diongon is seeking protection and now with the Department of Justice and he is safe," the policeman's father said in General Santos City in Mindanao where the family lives.

Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, of the Muslim autonomous region, said Diongon left the police headquarters without clearance from his superiors. “We have ordered police forces to search for Diongon and take him in custody immediately if he returns to Mindanao. Diongon was last seen in Camp Crame on January 21,” he said on Monday.

He said police is also verifying reports that Diongon – who could shed light into the killings – is in Iloilo province where he is to get marry. He said they tried call Diongon’s mobile phone, but it remained unanswered.

Macapantar said they have also coordinated with the police and other law enforcement agencies in General Santos City where Diongon is currently residing should he return home.

Six of Diongon’s policemen – who are also in restricted custody in Camp Crame - are all accounted, Macapantar said. “Diongon is the only one missing and the six others who also were reported missing also is all accounted.”

Police said a scion of a powerful political clan in Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of Datu Unsay town, allegedly led some 100 gunmen in the gruesome killings in the province. Among those murdered were the wife and two sisters and supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, the vice mayor of Buluan town who is running for governor of Maguindanao – a position being held by the mayor’s father and namesake, Andal Ampatuan Sr. - in the May elections.

The Ampatuan and the Mangudadatu clans are bitter political foe in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, whose governor, Zaldy Ampatuan, is a brother of Andal Ampatuan Jr.

All three politicians, including other clan members and supporters, had been arrested in connection with the killings. They denied involvement in the murders. (Mindanao Examiner)

Kidnappers strike anew in Basilan province, take 2 more hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 04, 2009) – Former Moro rebels snatched two people in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, where kidnappers are still holding six more hostages.

Police said the hostages are employees of the Kasanyangan Foundation Inc. which is engage in micro-finance in Basilan, several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City.

The victims, Leah Patris and Ahmad Ilang, were with another employee, Nasra Mudjain, on a motorcycle when three gunmen intercepted them at around 6 p.m. Tuesday in the village of Upper Benengbengan in Sumisip town, police said.

Mudjain managed to escape and reported the abduction to the police.

“The trio were heading to Maluso town after collecting more than P50,000 from clients in Sumisip, when gunmen seized them,” said Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, Basilan police chief.

He said police forces were sent to Sumisip to track down the kidnappers. “There is an ongoing operation and we are closely coordinating with the military to track down the kidnappers and their hostages,” he said.

Macapantar tagged former Moro National Liberation Front rebels headed by Commander Abugao as behind the kidnapping.

Unidentified gunmen last week also snatched a nine-year old boy, Chester Gruta, and Eleazar Gumera, 45, in Basilan’s Lamitan City.

A bakery owner Eliseo Hablo and three government teachers Freires Quizon, Janette delos Reyes and Rafael Mayorada – all kidnapped in Zamboanga City by armed men were also taken to Basilan.

The group holding the teachers has demanded P6 million for the freedom of the hostages.

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)

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)