Sayyaf gives 5-day ultimatum to captive's family
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Abu Sayyaf militants have given the family of a 21-year-old college student they seized in Sulu last week, five days to shell out P3-million ransom for his release, a spokesman of the local crisis management committee said.
The P3-million ransom was lower by P2 million from the sum originally demanded by the captors of Kenn Klefford Lao, who belongs to a prominent clan in Sulu.
Hadji Kadil Estino, a Sulu provincial board member and spokesman of the Multi-Agency Coordinating Body, said Lao’s family was given a five-day ultimatum to pay the ransom.
Authorities said the group holding Lao captive was the one which snatched and beheaded Kanague Elementary School principal Gabriel Canizares in Patikul, Sulu in November last year.
Canizares’ severed head was dumped near a gasoline station in Jolo, the capital town of Sulu, hours after he was executed. His body has not been located.
Sulu provincial officials have appealed to Lao’s kidnappers to safely release him since his family hails from Sulu and has been helping locals.
The police and military were mum on the ransom demand and the negotiation itself but gave assurance that there have been efforts to secure the kidnapped student’s release.
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