MILF remnants abduct young student in Cotabato; rescue operations on

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The notorious kidnap for ransom group (KFRG) believed to be remnants of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) seized a son of a prominent Filipino-Chinese family Wednesday in Midsayap, North Cotabato, military officials here said yesterday.

Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva identified the new kidnap victim as Al Vincent Uy, 13, a first year high school student of Notre Dame of Midsayap High School.

He said the victim was seized by six unidentified armed men at about 5 p.m. Wednesday in front of his school while the boy was on his way to his waiting service vehicle.

The suspects hurriedly dragged the victim to a waiting Vanette van with blue maroon stripes bearing plate number KBZ-303 and immediately sped away towards Cotabato City.

The 302nd Army Brigade and the PNP in Midsayap immediately alerted all their units and detachments along the highway where the suspects were expected to withdrew along with their young captive.

Villanueva said 30 minutes later, the combined pursuing government forces sighted the vehicle near the boundary of Barangays Dalumangkob and Simuay in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

The suspects engaged the police and Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit-Active Auxillary (CAA) in a brief firefight where the suspects hurled a fragmentation grenade which failed to explode, according to Villanueva.

"The elements of the Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT) 6 recovered the suspects’ get-away vehicle at about 6:30 p.m. on the same day in the vicinity of Lansam, still in Simuay, however, the kidnappers managed to slip away with their young captive," Villanueva said.

In a related development, the Midsayap abduction seemed to have poured cold water on the enthusiasm of Central Mindanao’s business community to revive the area’s war-devastated economy.

Hotel owner Antonio Santos, official of the Metro Cotabato Chamber of Commerce here, called on Malacañang to redeploy all Army and Marine units earlier pulled out from the region to augment military forces running after Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu.

"The kidnappers in Central Mindanao are taking advantage of their temporary absence and this is not good because the kidnappings are taking place at a time when we are trying to lure back prospective investors to the region," Santos said.

The kidnapping of Uy was perpetrated just as another group of armed men pulled a fast one on a Chinese family, who paid them P700,000 in ransom in a payoff also in a remote barangay in Sultan Kudarat, but failed to secure the release of the victim, businessman Michael Ang.

Ang was kidnapped here last week while on his way to his store near the Cotabato City public market. His captors have reportedly asked for a P1 million ransom in exchange for his release.

Ang’s abduction came three days after armed men snatched trader Vicente Yu while he was about to enter his warehouse in Salimbao District here.

Ang and Yu have since remained in captivity and local authorities have no solid clues yet on their whereabouts. — With John Unson