Search on for kidnapped Taiwanese trader

CAMP S.K. PENDATUN, Maguindanao — Police and military operatives are now hot on the trail of a kidnap-for-ransom gang that snatched the other day a Taiwanese trader and his secretary in Wao, Lanao del Sur.

The abduction of businessman Michael Dy and his staff, Evelyn dela Cruz, broke almost a three-year lull in kidnappings activities in the autonomous region.

Senior Superintendent Akmad Mamalinta, director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police, said they have asked the help of the Region 10 police in Cagayan de Oro City to help them locate the victims, who were reportedly brought to Talakag, Bukidnon by their Maranaw captors.

"Our informants have told us that the kidnappers are now holding them captive somewhere in Talakag, which is outside the ARMM," Mamalinta said.

He added that ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, who is chairman of the regional peace and order council, has directed his constituent-mayors and religious leaders in Lanao del Sur to help the regional police work out the release without ransom of the two captives.

The police intelligence community has tagged a certain Willie Mangundatu, an ethnic Maranaw, as leader of the group that snatched Dy and Dela Cruz.

Dy, who has various ventures in Wao, a predominantly Christian town in Lanao del Sur, and Dela Cruz were on their way to Bukidnon on board a van when the gunmen, positioned at both sides of the road, flagged them down and forced them into a waiting get-away vehicle.

The kidnappers left Dy’s driver tied to the steering wheel of their vehicle. The kidnappers told the driver to inform Dy’s family to prepare ransom, without specifying an amount.

The news website of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), luwaran.com, reported that the MILF’s central committee has tasked the deputy chairman of its Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), Zafrullah Dipatuan, to mobilize their commanders in the neighboring Wao and Talakag towns to help the police locate the whereabouts of Dy and Dela Cruz.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Marines has also joined the search, according to Joint Task Force Ranao commanding general, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino. — With Lino dela Cruz