Kidnappers free Chinese trader

PIKIT, North Cotabato, Philippines – Kidnappers set free in a remote village here yesterday a 24-year-old Chinese trader who they had held captive for three days in the nearby Liguasan Marsh.

The victim, Afen Ma Wu (not Mafen Wo as earlier reported), was snatched last May 27 by five armed men in Kabacan town and brought to nearby Datu Montawal town in Maguindanao, the known gateway to the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh, a known stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

There is talk that relatives of Wu, whose brother operates two stores in Kabacan, had shelled out an “earnest amount” to defray the cost of her “board and lodging” while in the hands of her captors, reportedly led by Commander Saguile.

Local officials, however, denied that ransom had been paid in exchange for Wu’s release.

Political and religious leaders here, among them Pikit Vice Mayor Don Mangansakan, said Wu was, in fact, released through the efforts of Mayor Datu Norodin Matalam of Pagalungan, Maguindanao, North Cotabato Gov. Jesus Sacdalan, Kabacan Mayor George Tan, and local MILF commanders.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Wu’s kidnappers are known followers of Ameril Ombra Kato, chief of the MILF’s recalcitrant 105th Base Command.

Kato is wanted for leading bloody attacks on communities in the south following the aborted signing of an agreement on ancestral domain between the government and the MILF last year.

“There were reports a day before the victim was set free that the kidnappers had asked for P13-million ransom. Apparently this kidnapping was pulled off as a fund-raising scheme. These renegade Moro forces are in dire need of money to sustain their operations,” Ponce said.

Wu, who appeared to be in good health, declined to talk to reporters.

Staffers of the Pikit health office said she was in good shape, except for mosquito bites on her body.

“She appears to be unaware of what went on during her captivity. She’s fine,” Sacdalan said.

Sacdalan said a certain Kagui Abas, who belongs to the MILF, also helped secure Wu’s release. – With Dennis Carcamo