Some kidnappers related to Yusoph son, sources say

MARAWI CITY , Philippines  – Some of the gunmen that kidnapped the son of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Elias Yusoph are their relatives, police sources and military intelligence operatives revealed yesterday.

Some local officials revealed one of the kidnappers is Demaporo Masacal, who is also a relative of an influential political leader in the province.

“They are treating him well because he wasn’t kidnapped for the purpose of raising money. He was kidnapped because of political reasons,” a senior intelligence officer said.

Sources also revealed the kidnappers are holding 22-year-old Nuraldin Yusoph in a remote village in Lumba-Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur.

Provincial police director Senior Superintendent Paniares Adap said the provincial crisis management committee has enlisted the help of Muslim clerics to convince the kidnappers to release the victim.

Yusoph, a student of Islamic theology, was kidnapped shortly after emerging from a mosque in Barangay Sabala Amao in the city last week.

The kidnappers later called the elder Yusoph to demand that he annul the election results in four towns of Lanao del Sur province in exchange for his son’s release.

Sources from the Islamic community here said the kidnapping stemmed from the still unresolved electoral controversies in the special elections held in the four towns.

The Comelec had declared a failure of elections in the four towns on May 10.“And the kidnappers certainly just mentioned the towns of Malabang and Pikong, which are both in the second district of Lanao del Sur to confuse authorities and as a diversion,” a Muslim preacher said.

Comelec has yet to proclaim the representative in the first congressional district of Lanao del Sur. The information bureau of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said the provincial leadership of Lanao del Sur and the ARMM’s acting governor have tapped local officials to help locate Yusoph and his captors.

“We in the regional government have not alluded to anyone as the brains in that kidnapping. We leave everything to the police,” ARMM spokesman Ali Macabalang said.

Mindanao Development Authority chairman Jesus Dureza presided over an emergency dialogue with local officials and security forces here Friday and stressed Malacañang’s concern over the political consequences of the kidnapping of Yusoph.

Dureza said also appealed to local leaders to set aside their political differences and help negotiate the release of Yusoph.

“This is something that we need to address as a community. Let’s do our best in working out the return of the victim to his family,” Dureza said.

According to Dureza, an informant provided him a copy of a letter supposedly from the kidnappers of Yusoph.He said the letter is now being evaluated to establish its authenticity.

ARMM police director Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag said they are prepared to mount a rescue operation for Yusoph should all other means to secure his release prove unsuccessful.