Deaf-mute daughter of Zambo university president abducted

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Four armed men snatched the 19-year-old deaf-mute daughter of the president of the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) outside a subdivision here Tuesday night, police said.

Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, city police chief, said Grace Gonzales, youngest daughter of WMSU president Edilgario Gonzales, was walking with a female companion outside Aurora Village when the four men on board two motorcycles got near them.

One of the men struck the teenager’s companion with a handgun on the back of the head while his cohorts seized her.

Alerted minutes after the abduction, police immediately set up mobile checkpoints on the kidnappers’ possible escape routes.

Cristobal said they have mobilized a big group to track down the kidnappers and rescue Gonzales.

The elder Gonzales, who reported the incident to the police, said his family has not received any demand for ransom or information from the abductors.

The abduction was said to be the first involving a prominent family here in a decade.

Mayor Celso Lobregat said authorities are exhausting all efforts to solve the kidnapping soonest.

This southern port city is scheduled to host the annual Mindanao Business Conference at the end of this month and local officials are worried that the kidnapping might sow fear among businessmen.