Kidnappers free boy, 9, in Zambo Sibugay

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  – Kidnappers freed a nine-year-old boy they had held captive for more than six months, in a village in Zamboanga Sibugay the other day, police said.

The boy was released along the highway in Barangay Kitabog in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay at around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday and was picked up by police intelligence agents, said Chief Superintendent Elpedio de Asis, Region 9 police director based here. 

De Asis said the boy was brought to the police intelligence headquarters for medical checkup and debriefing before he was reunited with his family.

De Asis could not say if ransom was paid in exchange for the release of the boy, who was seized last March 9 while on his way home from school in Titay town.

The kidnappers, who had brought the boy to Basilan, initially demanded P25-million ransom from his family. 

The ransom though was later lowered to P5 million, according to the local crisis committee.

The boy’s family had sought for proof of life, and the kidnappers sent a video clip showing him crying while holding an M-16 rifle. 

De Asis directed the police forces in Zamboanga Sibugay to track down the boy’s kidnappers and “bring them before the bar of justice.” 

Meanwhile, there is still no word on a salon owner who was snatched in Ipil town last Sept. 4.

Director Felicisimo Khu, chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation for Western Mindanao, said there has been no contact yet from the kidnappers of Luicita Galvez Morrison, 34, owner of RL Salon. Morrison’s live-in partner is a British national.