Kidnappers free trader

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Kidnappers freed unharmed a Sulu businessman after holding him captive for nearly three months, the military said yesterday.

The victim, Beltran Vergara, 42, was released to a civilian negotiator in Indanan, Sulu last Tuesday allegedly after payment of ransom, said Lt. Col. Pablo Lorenzo, chief of the Army’s 35th Infantry Battalion.

Vergara was abducted along with his 70-year-old mother, Caridad, from their house in Barangay San Reymundo, Jolo last April 12. She was freed two weeks later to relay the ransom demand. — Roel Pareño