Chinese national kidnapped in Southern Philippines

KABACAN, Philippines (Xinhua / May 28, 2009) - A 24-year-old Chinese national, not a Korean as reported before, was kidnapped in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato Wednesday afternoon, officials and witnesses said on Thursday.

With the surname of Ma (not Maxine Wo as earlier reported), a woman from the Chinese mainland, was about to buy some vegetables when two gunmen abducted her, forced her into a car and ran away around 4:45 p.m. local time (0845 GMT), only a few meters away from her residence in the township of Kabacan, North Cotabato province, witness said.

A Chinese diplomat based in the central city of Cebu, whose office's jurisdiction also covers the Mindanao region, confirmed that the kidnapped victim is a Chinese from the southeastern Fujian province, hometown of the majority of the Chinese immigrants in the Philippines.

"We are coordinating with the local police to ensure the safe release of the victim," Yang Fengwu, consul with the Chinese General Consulate in Cebu, told Xinhua by phone.

Ma is a sister-in-law of a Chinese businessman who owns an ATCHAN Enterprises in Kabacan.

Pai Dumama, a worker of the ATCHAN Enterprises, told Xinhua that the victim arrived in the Southeast Asian country five months ago along with her husband as tourists.

"They have not received any threats of kidnapping before. It only happened yesterday," Dumama said.

"Until now, the kidnappers have not phoned the family," he added.

Meanwhile, a military ground official said that the kidnappers have "opened a line" for negotiation for the release of the victim.

Colonel Domingo Gobway, commander of the Philippine Army's 7th Infantry Battalion engaged in the operation against the kidnappers, said that the wife of Kabacan town Mayor George Tan, Luz, is currently negotiating with the kidnappers for the release of the Chinese national.

Local officials said the kidnappers are members of a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang called "Pentagon".

"Ms. Tan left for nearby township of Mlang in North Cotabato to work for the release of the victim. But there's no ransom demand yet from the captors," Gobway said.

The Pentagon, blamed for at least 50 kidnapping cases in Mindanao, first gained notoriety on October 17, 2001, when it abducted Italian priest Guissepe Pierrantoni while he was officiating a Mass in Dimatali town, Zamboanga del Sur.

Pierrantoni was released on April 8, 2002, after six months in captivity.

The group also kidnapped five Chinese engineers and a Filipino guide in May 2001. Four of the Chinese engineers were killed in the crossfire during a military rescue operation sometime in June 2001. (Xinhua)

Security forces track down kidnapped foreigner, Filipino companion in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 28, 2009) – The Philippine military launched fresh operation on Thursday to track down a foreigner and her Filipino companion kidnapped in Mindanao.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said security forces were tracking down the victims, Mafin Wo and Rochelle Amante, who were seized late Wednesday afternoon in Kabacan town in North Cotabato.

Ponce earlier reported that only Amante was taken by gunmen, but said Wo had also been kidnapped. Wo’s family owns the Atchan Enterprises in Kabacan town.

“We have verified today that both women were kidnapped by gunmen on Wednesday and there is an operation to trace their whereabouts,” he told reporters.

He said the gang’s get-away car had been recovered, but the fate of the women were unknown.

Ponce blamed the Pentagon gang for the latest kidnappings. He said the group was involved in many kidnappings in the past and ransom could be the motive behind this latest abduction.

He said the military is verifying the nationality of Wo after receiving intelligence reports that she could either be a South Korean or a Chinese citizen. “We still don’t know and there are reports saying Wo is a Korean or Chinese,” Ponce said.

Last week, suspected Pentagon Gang members freed a kidnapped Filipino-Chinese trader Christopher Yap after her family negotiated with his captors. Yap was snatched May 7 in Maguindanao province.

In February, a Filipino-Chinese hotelier Wilson Tan and his daughter Jennifer were kidnapped and freed after four days in captivity in Maguindanao. They were kidnapped in their house in Cotabato City.

Police blamed the Pentagon Gang for the kidnapping of Tan and his daughter. The kidnappers originally demanded P10 million ransoms for the safe release of the captives. The victims’ family did not say if they paid ransoms or not.

Kidnapping-for-ransom has virtually become a lucrative business and livelihood for rebels and criminal gangs in the southern Philippines because most of their victims opted to paying ransom or risk getting killed in captivity.

On Tuesday, three school teachers kidnapped in Zamboanga City were released in Basilan province after private negotiators allegedly paid huge ransom to Moro rebels.

The trio - Quizon Freires, 28; Janette Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael Mayonado, 24 – were kidnapped at sea on January 23 while returning by boat from a break on Sacol Island in Zamboanga City. They were brought to Basilan province where the kidnappers originally demanded P6 million ransoms and eventually lowered this to P2.5 million for their safe release. (Mindanao Examiner)

Kidnappers strike anew, take woman in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 27, 2009) – Gunmen abducted Wednesday a woman in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato, officials said.

Officials said Rochelle Amante, 22, was seized in Kabacan town by two armed, believed to be members of the Pentagon gang, blamed for previous kidnappings-for-ransom in Mindanao.

Amante, whose relatives are wealthy traders, was walking in downtown Kabacan when the armed seized her. They fled on a white car, the military said.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a regional army spokesman, said ransom was probably the motive of the abduction. “The Pentagon Gang was involved in many kidnappings in the past and ransom could be the motive behind this latest abduction,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Last week, suspected Pentagon Gang members freed a kidnapped Filipino-Chinese trader Christopher Yap after her family negotiated with his captors. Yap was snatched May 7 in Maguindanao province.

In February, a Filipino-Chinese hotelier Wilson Tan and his daughter Jennifer were kidnapped and freed after four days in captivity in Maguindanao. They were kidnapped in their house in Cotabato City.

Police blamed the Pentagon Gang for the kidnapping of Tan and his daughter.

The kidnappers originally demanded P10 million ransoms for the safe release of the captives. The victims’ family did not say if they paid ransoms or not.

Kidnapping-for-ransom has virtually become a lucrative business and livelihood for rebels and criminal gangs in the southern Philippines because most of their victims opted to paying ransom or risk getting killed in captivity.

On Tuesday, three school teachers kidnapped in Zamboanga City were released in Basilan province after private negotiators allegedly paid huge ransom to Moro rebels.

The trio - Quizon Freires, 28; Janette Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael Mayonado, 24 – were kidnapped at sea on January 23 while returning by boat from a break on Sacol Island in Zamboanga City.

They were brought to Basilan province where the kidnappers originally demanded P6 million ransoms and eventually lowered this to P2.5 million for their safe release. (Mindanao Examiner)

4 wounded in bus explosion in Mindanao

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Steel pylon blasted in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 17, 2009) – Suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels blasted a steel pylon in the southern Philippines, cutting off electricity in some areas in the troubled region, an army spokesman said on Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, of the 6th Infantry Division, said the rebels planted and detonated explosives late Monday on one of the towers of state-owned National Power Corporation, about 80 meters from the highway in the village of Malabuaya in North Cotabato’s Kabacan town.

He said troops also recovered an unexploded improvised explosive in the area.
“This attack is perpetrated by the MILF’s special operation’s group,” Ponce said without further elaborating, but previous bombings in the area were also quickly blamed to the rebel group which is fighting for independence in Mindanao.

The MILF denied Ponce’s accusation. “We have nothing to do with the bombing. Authorities should investigate these attacks and stop blaming us for all crimes in the southern Philippines,” said Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader.

Ponce also blamed the MILF for raiding a small community in Alamada town also in North Cotabato where rebels took 15 cows and abducted three villagers last Sunday.

But Kabalu blamed cattle rustlers for the attack.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which has signed a cease-fire accord with Manila in 2001. However, peace talks between the two groups collapsed last year after the failed signing of the ancestral domain deal which would have granted homeland to more than four million Muslims across over 700 villages in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

Bomb explodes outside church; another explosive is disarmed in southern Philippines

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Troops foil bombing of Iglesia ni Cristo church in Mindanao

"Police blamed for lapses in intelligence and security, and failure to secure church despite past attempts to bomb Iglesia ni Cristo."

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2008) – For the third time in four days, Philippine soldiers foiled a bomb attack Monday on a church in the southern town of Kabacan in Mindanao.

Officials said soldiers discovered an improvised explosive in front of the Iglesia ni Cristo after civilians alerted the military about the bomb.

No group claimed responsibility for the failed attack, but a regional army spokesman, Lt. Col. Julieto Ando blamed extortionist for the three bombing attempts on the church.

“We have intelligence reports pointing to extortionist as behind the failed attack. The lawless elements were demanding half a million pesos every month from the Iglesia ni Cristo,” Ando told the Mindanao Examiner.

Ando previously blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the foiled attacks and for the bomb explosion Nov. 26 outside the church of the Jehova’s Witness.
On Thursday, soldiers also disarmed an improvised explosive in front of the Iglesia ni Cristo and two other bombs on Saturday.

But it was not immediately known how the bombers were able to plant explosives in front of the church despite previous attempt to blow up the church.

Christian worshipers blamed the police in Kabacan town for for lapses in intelligence and security and its failure to guard the area despite repeated attempts to attack the Iglesia ni Cristo and the bombing of the Jehova’s Witness church.

Ando said Monday’s improvised explosive was assembled from an anti-rocket commonly used by MILF rebels. “There is no doubt rebels were behind this latest attempt to bomb the church,” he said without elaborating further.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past decades for self-determination.

Peace talks between the MILF and Manila collapsed in August after rebels launched a series of deadly attacks over in North Cotabato, Sarangani and Lanao del Norte provinces in Mindanao over the failed signing of a Muslim homeland deal between the two sides.

And sporadic fighting continues in some areas in the troubled region. Clashes were also reported since Friday in Basilan island, south of Zamboanga City, where troops mounted fresh offensives to flush out the Abu Sayyaf fighters.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of militants allied with the MILF and is largely blamed for the spate of kidnappings-for-ransom and extortion in Mindanao. It is also believed to have ties with the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terror networks. (Mindanao Examiner)

Security forces defuse bomb planted at Christian church in Southern Philipppines

A temple of the Inglesia Ni Cristo in the Philippines. Security forces have disarmed Saturday, November 29, 200 two bombs planted in front of an Iglesia Ni Cristo Church in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province in Mindanao island, south of the country. (Photo from josepherdon.blogspot.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 29, 2008) – Government soldiers and policemen have defused Saturday two powerful improvised explosives planted in front of a Christian church in Mindanao island, south of the Philippines, where security forces are battling Moro and communist insurgencies the past decades.

The explosives, assembled from two 60mm mortar bombs, were planted in front of the Iglesia Ni Cristo in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province. It was the second time that a bomb was left near the Iglesia Ni Cristo Church this week, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Although no groups or individual claimed responsibility for the failed bombings, Ando said the explosives had the signature of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“The MILF is known to use that kind of IED,” he said without elaborating further, but the military has blamed the secessionist rebel group to a bomb attack late Wednesday outside the church of the Adventist Jehova's Witness also in Kabacan town.

The blast caused no major damage to the church, but it sent a chilling warning that even churches are now being targeted by terrorists, according to Ando. “We still do not know why churches are being targeted,” he said.

Ando said the previous bomb found in front of the Iglesia Ni Cristo Church was concealed in a backpack and had wirings connected to an electronic clock.

The MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, has denied involvement in the foiled attack or in the previous bombing.

Manila has suspended peace talks with the MILF after rebel forces launched simultaneous attacks on civilian targets in Mindanao in August after the failed signing of a Muslim homeland deal, which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional. The deal would have granted more than four million Muslims their own homeland in Mindanao.

Security forces are fighting both Moro and communist insurgencies in Mindanao for more than three decades now.

Beside the two groups, authorities are also battling local Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group has links with the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists, blamed for several deadly attacks in the past in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Army disarms IED planted outside Church in southern Philippines

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Troops Foil Bombings Of Bus Depot In Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 29, 2008) – Philippine troops disarmed three homemade bombs left at a bus depot in North Cotabato province in the restive region of Mindanao, south of the country, the army said Wednesday.

The improvised explosives were assembled from two 81mm and a 60mm mortar bombs and connected to blasting caps and batteries and left at the depot in Kabacan town, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the 6th Infantry Division.

Ando said the bombs, concealed inside cardboard box, were discovered by civilians who informed authorities about it. No group claimed responsibility for the foiled attack, but Ando blamed rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as behind the foiled bombing.

“We suspect lawless MILF groups as behind this foiled attack because there is an ongoing operation against them,” Ando told the Mindanao Examiner.

Ando was referring to Ameril Kato, Abdullah Macapaar and Sulayman Pangalian, who led a series of deadly attacks against civilian targets in August after the failed signing of the Muslim territorial deal with the MILF.

Manila suspended peace talks with the rebel group because of the attacks that killed and wounded dozens of people in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani provinces.

Police and military authorities previously blamed the spate of bus depot bombings to the Al-Khobar gang. (Mindanao Examiner)