3 teachers kidnapped in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Gunmen believed to be members of a kidnap-for-ransom group operating with the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped three public school teachers off Sacol Island, half a mile east of this city, a local official said yesterday.

The victims – two men and a woman – were among 10 teachers on board a motorized banca intercepted by four men in a pump boat at about 8 a.m. yesterday

The three victims were identified as Quizon Freires, Rafael Mayonado and Janette de los Reyes, assigned to Landangua elementary and secondary schools.

Freires and De los Reyes are teachers of Arena Blanco National High School, Landang Gua Annex. Mayonado is with Landang Gua Elementary School and started teaching only last Wednesday.

Along with another teacher and six principals, Freires, Mayonado, and Delos Reyes were on their way to the city to pick up materials for the upcoming Regional Achievement Test.

The principals were en route to the city to collect salaries from the DepEd Division Office.

Mayor Celso Lobregat said the victims were kidnapped between the waters of Landanggua and Pangapuyan.

“The gunmen warned they would shoot us all if our pump boat would not stop,” Abdul-asis Mistul, one of the teachers who was not abducted, said.

Mistul said the gunmen wore masks and asked who the teachers were.

He added that the kidnappers, in their late or early 30s, spoke in Yakan, a Muslim dialect used only in Basilan.

“They told us to keep our heads down and not to be afraid,” Mistul, still visibly shaken, said.

The abductors, armed with assault rifles randomly picked those who were identified as Christians and left the rest of the teachers, he added.

They later confiscated all the boat passengers’ cellular phones before escaping with their hostages.

Rescue operations

Lobregat immediately coordinated with the Naval Forces Western Mindanao and the Task Force Zamboanga to conduct search and rescue operations.

Companions of the victims said the gunmen were moving toward Tuburan in Basilan, a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf and the kidnapping group.

The police and military suspect that that the kidnappers were still holed out in the mangrove area of the island as they sealed off Basilan and the coastal areas of this city.

Army commander Col. Santiago Baluyot said the three teachers are believed to be in the hands of the kidnappers of three Red Cross workers taken last week in Sulu.

“We have deployed soldiers to help the police in the operation to locate the victims. We are doing everything to locate them,” said local.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, the military was pointing to Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants, who have mounted several high-profile kidnappings in the south recently.

Last week, gunmen snatched off Patikul island a Swiss, an Italian, and Filipina workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross, visiting a prison on a humanitarian mission.

The Red Cross said it was in contact with the hostages by phone, but had not known whether their kidnappers were demanding ransom.

DepEd presses for teachers’ safe release

The Department of Education (DepEd) said it would actively pursue efforts to secure the release of the three kidnapped teachers.

Ramon Bacani, Education Undersecretary for Regional Operations, said “our field officials are coordinating with the city government, police and military authorities for the immediate and safe release of our tutors abducted in the line of duty.”

“We are closely monitoring the situation,” Bacani added.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus directed Bacani to take charge of the coordination efforts.

Dolores Alcantara, DepEd Zamboanga City district superintendent, and other education officials were coordinating with Lobregat and his crisis committee.

Reports received by the Zamboanga city hall said the teachers were unharmed.   – With Jaime Laude, Rainier Allan Ronda