3 students rescued from kidnappers

Three coeds of the Mindanao State University (MSU) who were snatched aboard a Marawi City-bound passenger jeepney Wednesday were rescued Thursday night by police without any ransom being paid.

However, a professor who was kidnapped inside the MSU campus, also on Wednesday, is still being held captive by the gunmen, who are believed to be former MSU security guards.

Karen Manulat, a daughter of Rhede Nelson Manulat, 47, a business administration professor, said the kidnappers have not demanded any ransom for her father’s release.

She said her father told her mother via cellphone last night that he had been been moved to Calanugas from Balindong, also a town in Lanao del Sur.

Her father’s kidnappers, who had also snatched the three students, are apparently waiting for MSU officials to negotiate with them, she added.

Chief Superintendent Ricardo de Leon, Philippine National Police director for police-community relations, said Reyane Cericas, 21; Marites Ngujo, 17; and an unidentified coed are now undergoing debriefing at police headquarters.

"We are still looking at the alleged involvement of the (Moro Islamic Liberation Front)," he said. Our investigators are in the process of verifying (the information) and gathering evidence that will link the group to the series of abductions in the area."

Quoting Chief Superintendent Akmad Omar, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police director, De Leon said a team led by Lanao del Sur police commander Senior Superintendent Allakbar Bangola rescued the students from a house in Sitio Pindulonan, Barangay Limbo in Lanao del Sur.

Policemen and troops are scouring neighboring towns in search of Manulat and that they have asked the help of traditional leaders to pinpoint his whereabouts, he added.

Armed men took at gunpoint the three coeds while they were riding a passenger jeepney bound for Marawi City at around 6:30 p.m. last Wednesday.

Reports said the gunmen ordered the driver to head for Barangay Tuca and upon reaching the vicinity of Amai Pak-Pak Medical Center, the kidnappers got off the jeepney, dragging their three victims with them.

The three coeds were later brought to the lakeshore barangay of Lalabuan in Balindong, Lanao del Sur, reports added.

Four hours later, armed men barged into a classroom in MSU’s College of Business Administration and forcibly took Manulat who was conducting a rehearsal for the university’s foundation day this week.

Manulat was brought towards the direction of Barangay Matampay aboard a red car, reports said.

Meanwhile, de Leon said police and officials of state universities have agreed to allow security officers to carry firearms within school premises. – Christina Mendez, Lino dela Cruz