Sayyaf frees Jolo businesswoman

ZAMBOANGA CITY,  Philippines -  – Suspected Abu Sayyaf men freed in Jolo, Sulu the other day a businesswoman they had held captive for 20 days after her family reportedly paid P100,000 ransom, authorities said yesterday.

Director Felicisimo Khu, chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation for Western Mindanao, said businesswoman Rosely Mondejar Villadore, 37, was released by her kidnappers at around 10:30 a.m. Monday beside a clinic in Barangay Walled City, Jolo.

Villadore was seized along with her husband Jose Batronel, 57, and helper Julie Latorre last July 13 by armed men who barged into their boarding house in Barangay Walled City.

The couple’s helper, however, managed to escape while being dragged by the kidnappers to the getaway vehicle.

Authorities said Batronel was released three days later after he paid P10,000 for “board and lodging” but was ordered to raise money for his wife’s release.

“The family allegedly paid a ransom of P100,000 for her safe release,” Khu said in a statement.

Villadore, according to the military, was kept by the Abu Sayyaf in the vicinity of Barangay Panglayahan in Patikul, Sulu where Marine forces had been pursuing the militants led by Radulan Sahiron.

Barangay Panglayahan was the scene of the gunbattle that left seven Marines dead, a number of them beheaded and mutilated, and 26 others wounded.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Tanalgo, head of the Sulu Island Command, quoted Villadore as saying that her kidnappers were constantly on the run to evade the pursuing government troops.

Khu directed the Sulu police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 9 to debrief Villadore so she could identify her kidnappers for the filing of charges against them.