Rice trader’s daughter freed

COTABATO CITY — The notorious "Pentagon" kidnapping gang freed without ransom at dawn yesterday the 33-year-old daughter of a rice trader in Libungan, North Cotabato after holding her captive for nearly two months.

Senior Superintendent, Region 12 police intelligence chief, said the victim, Martina Martin, was released in Barangay Simsiman, Pigkawayan town at about 2:30 a.m., through the intercession of their regional director and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Martin was snatched by five pistol-wielding men in Libungan, some 40 kilometers north of this city, last October.

The Pentagon, led by the slippery Tahir Alonto, had claimed responsibility for the abduction and even originally asked for a P10-million ransom in exchange for her release.

Villacorta said Martin was freed after two weeks of negotiations initiated by the regional police and the 6th ID.

He said the Pentagon could have released her without ransom after they sensed that soldiers and policemen were closing in on their lair Thursday night.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the 6th ID, said Martin was first released to operatives of the 38th Infantry Battalion who, in turn, handed her over to intelligence agents of the regional police.

Ando said Martin, who was frail and haggard, will be brought to Davao City today for medical examination.

"She is fine and we are all glad this problem is over," said President Assistant for Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza.

This leaves Roman Catholic priest Giuseppe Pierantoni, 44, still in the hands of the Pentagon gang. He was abducted by the gang, made up of former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), on Oct. 17.

Military officials say the MILF, which signed a ceasefire with the government earlier this year, is backing the Pentagon group but the rebels deny this.

Another Muslim group, the Abu Sayyaf, is holding an American missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and a Filipina nurse, Deborah Yap, in Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf has links with Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

Muslim armed groups in the South have often resorted to kidnapping foreigners and Christians to raise funds through ransom. — With Roel Pareño