Kidnapped trader, Fil-Am sighted in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY ,Philippines  – A businesswoman kidnapped in Zamboanga del Sur last month was sighted with a Filipino-American, another kidnap victim, in the mountains of Basilan, a senior police official said yesterday.

Police Director Felicisimo Khu, chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation (DIPO) for Western Mindanao, said Monalisa Capa, 34, and 14-year-old Kevin Luns­mann were monitored in Barangay Guinanta, Al-Barka town. 

Capa, who manages a small gas station and into fishing boats business, was seized by gunmen in Pitogo town, Zamboanga del Sur last Oct. 8. Initial reports said she was brought to the camp of Wanning Abdusalam in Sitio Talaib, Barangay Labatan, Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay.

A military offensive in Payao late last month, however, yielded no sightings of Capa.

The police also disclosed that the kidnappers of Capa have established contact with the victim’s family. However, they could not say if there has been any ransom demand.

Lunsmann, a native of Virginia, USA, was kidnapped along with his mother Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and a Filipino relative Romnick Jakaria last July 12, while on their last day of vacation in Tigtabon Island off this city.

Mrs. Lunsmann was released last Oct. 2. 

Khu said they have not received any report on the whereabouts of Jakaria.