Basilan resort owner shot by Sayyaf captors

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Abu Sayyaf bandits have shot and wounded a resort and restaurant owner they seized last week, and the victim’s family is now worried about his condition, Basilan Vice Gov. Al-Rasheed Sakalahul said.

Sakalahul said he has been in contact with the family of kidnap victim Hilario de los Santos, alias Larry Font, whose captors led by Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama, however, have not relayed any demands yet.

Sakalahul went to the site where De los Santos was supposedly shot and beaten up and there he saw bloodstains.

“And that has caused apprehensions on the part of the victim’s family because he appeared to have been badly wounded by his kidnappers,” he said.

De los Santos, owner of the Font Restaurant in downtown Isabela City and the Farmland Mountain Resort in the village of Lanote Bliss, was seized by militants who were billeted in his resort last week.

Some of the kidnappers disguised themselves as personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) by wearing the agency’s uniforms, Sakalahul said.

Authorities said it was the second time that Indama’s men have posed as PDEA personnel during an operation.

Last year, Indama’s followers also disguised themselves as members of the police Regional Mobile Group during the bombing attack on the Isabela City Cathedral. About a dozen people, including soldiers and policemen, were killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, Sakalahul expressed optimism that 60-year-old retailer Rose Baranda, who has been in captivity since Nov. 2 in the mountains of Tumahubong town, might be freed soon.

He said a group of Muslim elders was negotiating for Baranda’s release after her family appealed that it could not raise the P700,000 ransom.