Cosmetics firm’s collection manager, 5 pals abducted

COTABATO CITY – Armed men abducted yesterday the collection manager of a cosmetics distribution outfit and his five companions at the boundary of Maguindanao’s Datu Paglas and Buluan towns.

Col. Danilo Garcia, commander of the Army’s 604th Infantry Brigade, which has jurisdiction over Datu Paglas and Buluan, said the victims were on their way home to Davao City from Sultan Kudarat province when they were kidnapped.

Garcia said police and Army personnel were still validating the exact circumstances on how the victims – Nestor Fruto, said to be a collections manager of a cosmetics distribution firm in Davao City, and his companions Marvin and Nesslyn, both surnamed Fruto, Melvin Camacho, Anna Supe, and El-Marie Jones Goc-ong – were abducted.

Police intelligence sources said the victims had just collected payments from stores in Tacurong City and were en route to Davao City on board a red Mitsubishi Strada pick-up truck when the armed men flagged them down, commandeered their vehicle and brought them to Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

“We heard from informants that the victims were carrying a big amount of money when they were snatched,” Garcia told The STAR.

Garcia said they have yet to determine if Fruto’s group was kidnapped for ransom or merely robbed.

Garcia said soldiers and policemen, with the help of local leaders of the neighboring towns of Datu Paglas, Pendatun, Mangudadatu, Pandag, Paglat and Buluan, all in Maguindanao, were pursuing the kidnappers.

Datu Freddie Mangudadatu, mayor of Mangudadatu town, about 10 kilometers from the spot where the victims were snatched, said there have been confusing reports on the real circumstances behind the kidnapping.

“Some people say the victims were brought to Columbio (in Sultan Kudarat) while others say they were brought to a marsh near the Liguasan area,” Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu said more than 20 civilian volunteers and policemen from his town have joined the hunt for the kidnappers.