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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Kidnappers free Tawi-Tawi teacher
By Bong Garcia
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A top police official announced Wednesday that Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants and Abu Sayyaf bandits have freed the teacher they seized after killing a priest in the province of Tawi-Tawi province.
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) Police Director Joel Goltiao said Omar Taup was freed last March 18 after alleged payment of "board and lodging" fee to his captors.
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"He (Taup) was already released," Goltiao said. "They paid, according to the relatives, the amount of P200,000 for his (Taup) release."
His captors earlier demanded a ransom of P1 million in exchange for Taup's freedom. It was reportedly later lowered to P350,000.
Goltiao said Taup was abandoned by his captors at the wharf of Bongao town, the capital of Tawi-Tawi province.
Taup's freedom came three months and three days after he was taken hostage by a group of JI militants and Abu Sayyaf bandits who raided the Notre Dame High School in Tabawan Island, South Ubian town in Tawi-Tawi.
Taup was seized after the militants and bandits, who barged into the school campus, killed Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) priest, Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, in the evening of January 15. The priest resisted attempts of the gunmen to abduct him.
A former Abu Sayyaf member has told officials at the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) that Umar Asmanan, widely known as Dulmatin, was the one who led the January 15 raid on the Notre Dame High School campus.
Westmincom information officer Eugenio Batara Jr. disclosed that pursuit operations continue against the killers of Fr. Roda.
The Abu Sayyaf bandits still have one hostage with them.
This captive is Ma. Rosalie Lao, a rice trader who was seized last January 28 in Barangay Kakuyagan, Jolo, the capital of Sulu province.
Lao was about to enter the family compound when taken by five Abu Sayyaf bandits in the afternoon of January 28.
There is no word yet on the fate of Lao, whom authorities believed is being held captive in the hinterland of Sulu. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (March 27, 2008 issue)
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