Zambo City trader kidnapped

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A 48-year-old businessman was snatched by unidentified armed men while jogging at the Pasonanca Park here yesterday morning, police said.

Quoting witnesses, Bong Clemente, a barangay councilman, said his elder brother, Rainier William Jones Clemente, owner and manager of the Prestige Lending Corp., was dragged into a white Toyota Revo while he was jogging at about 5 a.m.

"There was a struggle inside the vehicle while it was speeding toward the city (proper)," he further quoted the witnesses as saying. The park is about five kilometers from the city proper.

He believes it was a clear case of kidnapping, saying his brother has had no known enemies.

He appealed to the kidnappers to free Rainier who, he said, recently underwent a kidney operation. The ordeal might aggravate his brother’s condition, he added.

The kidnappers had not relayed any ransom demand as of press time, he said.

Mayor Erbie Fabian directed the police to exhaust all means to safely recover Rainier.

"We cannot say yet which group is responsible for this senseless incident. But let me give assurance that the military and police authorities are exerting all their efforts to run after the (kidnappers) and safely recover the victim," Fabian said.

Past kidnappings here were largely blamed on the extremist Abu Sayyaf based in Sulu and Basilan, and renegade forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front operating in Western Mindanao. — With Jaime Laude