School suspends classes after teachers' failed kidnap

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  – A public elementary school here has suspended classes indefinitely after three of its teachers were kidnapped.

Acting school superintendent Pete Natividad said the Limaong Elementary School suspended classes since Friday, the day after five men barged into the school and kidnapped Riza de la Cruz, Lee Mariano, and Lerna Cabilis.

Natividad said the school will remain closed “until such time the security of the teachers and pupils are ensured.”

Government militiamen intercepted the kidnappers at a coastal village and helped rescue the teachers, who escaped during the encounter. The kidnappers fled in a motorboat to the nearby island of Tigburacao.

Dela Cruz narrated that they were kidnapped at gunpoint shortly after they dismissed their classes.

“But we resisted and we were ready to die because we know it will be hard once we are already taken,” Dela Cruz said.

One of the victims said when they managed to escaped, villages asked them to change into civilian clothes and had them wear headdresses to hide them from the kidnappers.

Natividad asked the military to establish a detachment in the area to prevent a repeat of the incident.