Retired teacher thrown overboard by kidnappers

COTABATO CITY — Maranaw fishermen rescued the other day a retired public school teacher thrown overboard by his kidnappers some two kilometers off Balabagan, Lanao del Sur after his family failed to shell out a P5-million ransom.

Senior Inspector Bahnarin Kamaong, spokesman of the city police, said the victim, Domingo Cubita, snatched here almost two months ago by suspected members of the notorious Pentagon kidnapping gang, has been reunited with his family with the help of local officials in Balabagan, a coastal town in Lanao del Sur.

Kamaong said Cubita told police investigators that his captors were moving him from Maguindanao to Lanao del Sur on board a pumpboat to elude pursuing lawmen when they decided to throw him into the sea.

"There was no way for his family to raise the amount because the victim is just a retired public school teacher and they don’t even have enough money to sustain their daily needs," Kamaong said.

He said the relentless pursuit of soldiers and policemen must have also pressured Cubita’s captors to get rid of him by throwing him overboard.

"We are now trying to gather more information from the victim for the prosecution of his captors," Kamaong said. — John Unson