From the Business Mirror (Apr 4): Task force deployed to stop transfer of Sabah kidnap victims to Sulu
THE Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command deployed a naval task force on Friday to search suspected seacraft as the police and the military started search-and- rescue efforts for two people who were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sabah over the weekend.
Capt. Maria Rowena Muyuela, spokesman for the Wesmincom, said Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, Wesmincom chief, has also ordered Naval Task Force 62 to establish a naval blockade and stop the possible transfer of the victims from Tawi-tawi to other provinces in Mindanao, particularly Sulu.
Guerrero issued the order after reports received by the National Police claimed the two victims, a Chinese and a Filipino, have been taken to Simunul island in Tawi-tawi from Sabah, were they were snatched by armed men on Sunday.
Reports said the Chinese woman, who is from Shanghai, China, was vacationing at the Singamata Reef Resort in Semporna, Sabah, when she was abducted.
The suspects also took a 40-year-old female Filipino resort worker whose identity was not revealed by military and police authorities.
Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia J. Eduardo Malaya sent a Filipino embassy official who conferred on Friday morning with local police authorities in Semporna.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur was able to confirm from local police authorities that the Filipino woman who was kidnapped was Marcelita M. Dayawan, 40, and a staff member at the Singamata Resort.
Embassy officials are in touch with Dayawan’s relatives and are extending consular assistance, the DFA said.
Philippine and Malaysian authorities are closely and actively working together toward the speedy resolution of the case, a DFA statement also said.
“We continue to hope and pray for the immediate resolution of this incident and the safe return of the victims to their families,” the DFA said.
The two women were discovered missing after officials of the resort ordered a roll call after the armed men had left the resort.
Muyuela said Guerrero also alerted other military units in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi against the possible presence of the kidnappers and their victims in their areas.
On Thursday, Capt. Ryan Lacuesta, civil-military operations officer of the 2nd Marine Brigade, said the unit has also been working to determine if the kidnappers are already in Mindanao, particularly Sulu.
“We are collecting information regarding the kidnapping and how it really happened, although our jurisdiction is only Sulu,” he said.
“We have scrambled personnel to monitor the incident and whether the direction of the kidnappers was toward Mindanao. If indeed it is true, then they should pass first at Tawi-Tawi,” Lacuesta added.
Lacuesta said last year, a Taiwanese was also abducted in Sabah and was taken to Sulu where the release of the victims was made.