Kidnappers free Zambo Norte mayor in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Kidnappers freed the town mayor of Salug, Zamboanga del Norte in Basilan on Monday night after holding him captive for seven months and after his family paid P1.3-million ransom.

Chief Superintendent Napoleon Estilles, Western Mindanao police director, confirmed that Mayor Jeffrey Lim, 37, was released by his captors to a private negotiator who his family employed.

A security official said though the kidnappers turned over Lim to an emissary sent by former Tuburan mayor Hajarun Jamiri at around 10 p.m. Monday in Basilan.

Lim and the emissary boarded a speedboat that arrived in one of the coastal villages in this city at around 3 a.m. yesterday. The two then traveled by land to Salug town, the security official said. 

Lim’s father Jesus confirmed that they negotiated his son’s freedom and that ransom was handed to his kidnappers. 

The Lim family asked the police to give the mayor time to rest and gave assurance that they would cooperate in the investigation to determine who were behind the kidnapping.

Lim and his wife were having dinner in a food court in Barangay Poblacion, Salug town when armed men who disguised themselves as National Bureau of Investigation agents seized him last April 2.

Estilles said the group that snatched Lim could also be behind other kidnappings in the Zamboanga Peninsula based on the way these were pulled off.

Still in captivity is Australian Warren Richard Rodwell who was seized last Dec. 5 in his house in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay. He is married to a Filipina.

Rodwell is believed being kept by his kidnappers in Sulu.    – With Jaime Laude