Still no clues on abduction of Chinese engineer in North Cotabato

COTABATO CITY — Lawmen still have no solid clues on the abduction last week of a Chinese engineer involved in a Japanese-funded irrigation project in North Cotabato.

Local authorities said plainclothes agents are still exhausting all possible means to locate Zhang Zhong Quing, who was abducted Thursday in Matalam, North Cotabato.

Zhang is the operations manager of Earthworks Construction, a Chinese company doing work at the Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation facility in Barangay Kibines, Carmen town.

Sources from the North Cotabato capitol said Gov. Emmanuel Piñol has enlisted the help of religious leaders in the adjoining towns of Matalam, Kabacan and Carmen in tracking down the kidnappers and working out the release of Zhang without any ransom.

But as of press time yesterday, police and military authorities in the province still faced a blank wall on the victim’s whereabouts and the identities of his captors.

Zhang was reportedly en route to Carmen, carrying a big amount of payroll money, from Davao City, on board a chartered taxi, when he was seized.

The taxi was found abandoned at a road junction in Matalam. The Army’s intelligence community said one of the four notorious kidnap-for-ransom gangs operating in North Cotabato could be behind Zhang’s abduction.

A senior intelligence officer, who asked not to be identified, said two of these groups, led by Saligan Gani and Kabilo Saguile, both disgruntled commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, are capable of pulling off abductions of foreign and prominent people, having well-organized underground networks.

Piñol, known for his hardline policy against lawless elements in North Cotabato, said he has alerted all police units to help locate Zhang and identify his kidnappers.

"Our effort toward this end is multisectoral. We are counting on the support of all sectors, not just the police and the military in working out the release of the Chinese engineer," Piñol said.

Zhang’s abduction has affected preparations for the 10th Mindanao Business Conference here in August. The event, according to key organizer Antonio Santos, chairman of the Metro Cotabato Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will be attended by businessmen from all over Mindanao and the East Asian region.

"It’s sad that this incident happened at a time when we are trying to correct the notion that it is not safe to invest in Central Mindanao due to recurring security problems," Santos said.