Rebels abduct trader in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Unfazed by the heavy presence of soldiers and policemen here, rogue Moro rebels snatched another member of the Chinese community Sunday night, only hours after kidnappers freed a captive in Pikit, North Cotabato.

Leonarda Tan, 49, sister of businessman Manuel Tan, was on her way home from their family’s cockpit here which she helps manage when gunmen flagged down their vehicle, forced her into a getaway car and spirited her into a nearby marshland.

Tan’s abduction came half a day after Moro rebels freed in Barangay Bagoinged in Pikit, North Cotabato a Chinese national named Afen Ma Wu, 24, who was snatched on May 24 in front of his brother’s store in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Local officials, among them Pikit, North Cotabato Vice Mayor Don Mangansakan, said Wu was freed through the intercession of Datu Norodin Matalam, who is the mayor of Pagalungan, Maguindanao, the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and leaders of the Islamic community.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, director of the Cotabato City police, said there has been no ransom demand yet from the kidnappers of Tan.

“They are still on the run. Our operatives are hot on their trail. Our operation against them has the support of our city mayor and all of his constituent-barangay chairmen in Cotabato City,” Dangane told reporters.

Tan was the second to be kidnapped in their family. Her sister-in-law, Catherine, was also abducted here in the early 1990s and, subsequently, freed after the Tans paid ransom to her captors, led by Commander Muba­rak, the founder of the dreaded Muba­rak kidnapping syndicate.

The driver of Tan, Bernardo Isidro, was reportedly set free by the kidnappers after forcing Tan into their getaway car to enable him to report the abduction to the Tan family.