Abducted American pastor rescued in Ozamiz City

OROQUIETA CITY, Misamis Occidental, Philippines – Policemen who just had completed a US-supervised anti-terror training here rescued an American pastor who was abducted by heavily armed men in his residence in Ozamiz City last Monday night, authorities said.

Protestant Bishop Tommy Smith, in his early 30s, was lying face down in his car with his hands tied to his back when elements of the 1005th Police Provincial Mobile Group (PPMG) rescued him along the highway in Tudela town.

Superintendent Edgar Daniel, 1005th PPMG commander, said Smith was seized by armed men who barged into his residence in Purok 2, Barangay Banadero at around 8:30 p.m. Monday.

After his rescue, Smith was immediately taken to a hospital in Ozamiz City where US soldiers training local troops and US embassy staffers visited and interviewed him.

US servicemen, mostly from the Joint Special Operations Task Force, have been in the province since last week as part of the ongoing RP-US Balikatan military exercises.

Daniel said they responded immediately after learning about Smith’s kidnapping from one of his neighbors, who got a call for help from the pastor’s wife before she, their two children and two female church workers were tied up by the armed men.

The kidnappers were forced to abandon Smith in his vehicle along the Ozamiz-Dipolog highway in Tudela town and escaped aboard their motorcycle backups before they could be flagged down in one of the roadblocks that police had put up.

“We still don’t know the motive but we have some suspects already,” said Daniel, whose men were trained last week by US Navy Seals in land and sea anti-terror operations, including underwater bomb detection and recovery.