'There's proof of life for Zambo captives'

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The local crisis management committee yesterday confirmed having “proof of life” of two US citizens who were kidnapped along with a Filipino relative in an island village here last week.

But the committee has not yet considered launching a rescue operation for captives Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, 42, her son Kevin Eric, 14, and Filipino nephew Romnick Jakaria, Mayor Celso Lobregat said.

Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, city police chief, said the committee had its first “proof of life” when mother and son managed to talk to their family in Virginia in the United States.

De Ocampo said there has been no sighting of the captives that could determine their fate, except the brief phone call made last week which showed they were alive.

“The contact already served as proof of life. However, our operatives on the ground have not established any eyeball contact with the victims and their captors,” he said.

De Ocampo said the committee chaired by Lobregat has ruled out any military or police option for now, as security forces have not yet pinpointed the exact location of the captives and the group behind the kidnapping on Tictabon Island last July 12.

He said they have not pinpointed the group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader Waning Abdusalam as the one holding the victims.

Abdusallam has been tagged as the leader of a MILF group engaged in kidnappings in the Zamboanga Peninsula. But the MILF leadership has denied his being a member.

“We cannot say yet whether their group is involved. We are looking at all other groups (engaged in) kidnappings for ransom in the Zamboanga Peninsula,” he said.