Kidnapped trader freed by Pentagon

COTABATO CITY — The notorious Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang freed yesterday, through the efforts of the Moro National Liberation Front, an agricultural trader its men abducted in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao last April 22.

The kidnap victim, Noel Bernardo of Tacurong City, said he was unsure if his parents paid ransom to the Pentagon gang in exchange for his release.

"I was kept in the dark as far as the negotiations for my release were concerned," he said.

Bernardo, however, said he was aware that Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, the MNLF’s secretary-general, initiated separate negotiations for his release without any ransom.

Bernardo said members of the notorious kidnapping gang who snatched him in Barangay Makir, Datu Odin Sinsuat town also contacted his parents separately and held secret talks with them a week before his release.

Sema said local commanders of the MNLF in Datu Odin Sinsuat helped pressure the kidnappers to set Bernardo free.

Bernardo, along with his driver, Pastor Allado, was seized by 10 heavily armed, ski mask-wearing men while on their way home from a business meeting in an agricultural area in Barangay Makir.

The kidnappers allowed Allado to leave after three days to relay their ransom demand to Bernardo’s family.

Bernardo said he believes his captivity was prolonged because the kidnappers had no means of contacting his parents through mobile phone since he was kept in an area out of the coverage of cellular sites.

"It was only during the last few days of my captivity that the kidnappers found an area where there was mobile phone signal," he said.