Kidnapped Cotabato lad rescued after firefight

COTABATO CITY — Soldiers and policemen, led by an iron-fisted Muslim datu, rescued the other day a kidnapped 14-year-old son of a wealthy merchant in a daring rescue mission at a secluded district in Nearby Sultan Kudarat town.

The victim, Al Vincent Uy, who was snatched Tuesday near the Notre Dame High School in Midsayap town, was freed by his captors after a brief firefight with pursuing lawmen led by Datu Tucao Mastura, former mayor of Sultan Kudarat who is popular for his "eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth" policy against criminals.

Bai Shahida Mastura-Bandila, incumbent mayor of Sultan Kudarat, said Uy and his captors were first spotted in Barangay Pingping, a hinterland town at the border of Sultan Kudarat and Buldon towns, by barangay officials who immediately sought help from the police, the local government and the Marine-led Presidential Anti-organized Crime Task Force here.

"It was the vigilance of the people in this barangay that led to the successful rescue of the victim," Mastura said.

Uy was spirited away from his hometown Tuesday afternoon by the kidnappers using a white Nissan Van and was held captive for two days in Barangay Pingping, according to SPO4 Dicalingan Masia, Sultan Kudarat’s police chief.

Masla identified three of Uy’s captors as Bentot, Sali and Tanto, members of a "lost command" rebel group operating in Maguindanao province.

The kidnappers, who provoked a 10-minute firefight with Mastura’s group, scampered towards different directions and abandoned Uy after sensing their hideout had been surrounded.

Uy was the third member of the local Chinese community kidnapped in Central Mindanao in their separate attacks in less than a month.

Authorities are still negotiating for the safe release of traders Vicente Yu and Michael Ang, who were snatched here last month by two different groups whose leaders have asked P10-million ransom each for their release.

In another development, suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels gunned down three native villagers and wounded six children in another raid the other day on a farming village in Lebak, a coastal town in Sultan Kudarat, police said.

Investigators said a group of armed men, led by a certain Odok Basañez, first surrounded the victim’s houses in Barangay Basak, Lebak and without any warning, opened fire, killing on the spot a farmer identified only as Rolando, his wife, Elvira and their son, Wilmar.

One of the suspects threw a grenade inside one of the houses, wounding 11-year-old Reden Lamayan, his siblings Eden, 10; Ana Mae, seven; Lyka, six; Ruffa, five; and Ronnel, 12, who were all rushed to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center here for treatment.

The rebels fled from the scene before responding soldiers could arrive. — With Roel Pareño, Allen Estabillo