The victims, businessman Carlos Belonio and Jae Kwon Yoon, are reportedly being maltreated by one of their captors, Sami Binago, whose sibling, also involved in the abduction, recently died in the hands of the military.
Combatants of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division have been scouring the hinterlands of Palembang, a coastal town, in a bid to rescue Belonio and Jae, Army spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said.
Village officials of Butril, Palembang said the victims have repeatedly been beaten up since last week by Binago, whose younger brother Teh, was gunned down by soldiers while attempting to escape from military custody.
The younger Binago, according to local officials, was shot dead by soldiers after he grabbed an M-16 Armalite rifle from one of them and opened fire.
He was bagged by pursuing soldiers and policemen, who also recovered assorted firearms, including live B-40 rockets, from abandoned hideouts of the kidnappers.
The victims were snatched in Barangay Malisbong, also in Palembang, last Feb. 5 while surveying sites rich in nickel deposits not far away from an area controlled by the kidnappers.
Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza, who is helping local officials negotiate the victims’ release, said Palembang Mayor Samrod Mamansual has been trying to convince the kidnappers to set the victims free without any ransom.
"It is not easy to negotiate with kidnappers who are really after money in exchange for the release of their victims. All means are being exhausted by the mayor and his constituent-leaders," Dureza said.
Superintendent Abubaker Mangelen, Sultan Kudarat police director, said he has tasked his intelligence men to validate reports that the two kidnap victims have been brought by their captors to Kalamansig.
"We have tapped religious leaders in the towns of Palembang and Kalamansig to help us locate the victims and determine their condition," Mangelen said.
A local court earlier had issued a warrant of arrest for the kidnappers’ leader, the Binago siblings and other suspects.
The kidnappers have asked a P5-million ransom in exchange for the release of Belonio alone. — John Unson