Man seized for refusing to wed pregnant girlfriend

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Police rescued yesterday a son of a government employee who was kidnapped and held for three days by armed men for his failure to fulfill a promise to marry an adolescent girlfriend he had impregnated.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, said Muariff Matabalao, 18, was found in a shanty at the Kalangan district here.

Police raided the area while elders of Matabalao and the woman he got pregnant were trying to resolve the issue peacefully according to Moro tradition.

“Apparently the armed men guarding the captive all fled after seeing the approaching policemen while the two families were negotiating in another area,” Dangane said.

The two families agreed to have the couple wed according to Islamic practice before yearend.

Matabalao’s mother works for the regional office here of the Office of Muslim Affairs.

“There was a promise to marry our niece, on a specific date, but did not materialize so it was our pride and honor that we need to uphold,” said a relative of Matabalao’s girlfriend.

Matabalao’s family also agreed to drop the kidnapping charges they filed against the woman’s relatives who snatched him four days ago.

Matabalao was on his way home from school when three armed men forced him into a tricycle and brought him to the Kalangan district to “penalize” him for having breached his promise to marry his pregnant girlfriend.