Crisis committee to help secure release of Japanese in Sulu

SABELA CITY, Basilan, Philippines – The military has set up a crisis management committee to work out the safe release of a Japanese being held by gunmen for four days now in an island in the Sulu archipelago.

Lt. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief, said Marines and police are guarding the island town of Pangutaran to prevent the kidnappers from slipping out and turning over their hostage to the Abu Sayyaf in the main island of Jolo.

“At the moment, all the Marines and the police in mainland Sulu remain on the watch and have been monitoring the coastal area for the possible presence of the kidnappers and their hostage Japanese national,” he said.

Dolorfino said the military is trying to determine the real identity of the 63-year-old Japanese whose passport and other documents give his name as Katayama Mamaito, born in Hiroshima, Japan on June 18, 1947.

Dolorfino said the military also found a birth certificate issued in Marawi City bearing the name Katayama Mamaito from the house of the Japanese.

Mamaito or Ito stayed in Dumaguete in Negros Oriental when he first arrived in the country, he added.

Dolorfino said he is believed to have fled to Marawi, where he adopted the name of Katayama because of a string of cases in Dumaguete.

Mamaito also acquired a driver’s license and was an auxiliary with a rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade, he added.

Mamaito was seized by 10 gunmen in a barangay in Pangutaran last Friday.

Troops kill kidnap gang leader

Troops killed the leader of a kidnap gang in Western Mindanao during a shootout on Sunday.

Killed was Jun Akilan, reportedly a leader of the Pingli/Akilan kidnap gang.

Akilan and his men engaged with Special Action Force troops and security forces from the Naval Forces Western Mindanao in Sacol Island off the Zamboanga Peninsula over the weekend.