No lead yet on abducted teacher

ZAMBOANGA CITY  - The military and police search and rescue operation have yet to find a lead  on the whereabouts of the abducted teacher and his captors, according to a military official.

Col. Glen Macasero, Task Force Zamboanga commander, said search has been widened in the region  to locate Flordeliza Ongchua, a head teacher of a public school in Barangay Labuan, a remote coastal village west of this city.

Ongchua, 48, was forcibly taken at gunpoint by eight gunmen in full battle gear disguising as military forces, who barged into her house.

The gunmen spared her daughter before escaping on board a jungkong, a Malaysian-designed flatbed motorboat patterned by some folks in Basilan, and equipped with 60mm caliber on its bow.

Macasero said forces have been dispatched, seven checkpoints were activated, sea patrols and four sea craft from the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) were pooled within the 30 minutes after the abduction.

Military troops in the nearby provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and Basilan have been alerted while navy patrols combed the coastal areas of all possible escape routes.

“We were trying to pursue some leads, unfortunately we were not in luck.  [We found no lead],” Macasero said.

The local Crisis Management Committee (CMC) has been activated and Task Force ‘Flor’ was formed to rescue the victim, according to Mayor Celso Lobregat.

Lobregat said the family has yet to receive any contact from the abductors and would not consider the case as kidnap for ransom in the absence of monetary demand.

Lobregat also reminded the family of the government’s no ransom policy. - Roel Pareño