ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Police yesterday released a computer-generated sketch of one of the 13 armed men who snatched a public school teacher in a coastal village here last Tuesday night.
This developed as the family of kidnap victim Flordeliza Ongchua, 48, a head teacher of a public elementary school and wife of a businessman, has not received any contact yet from her kidnappers.
Senior Superintendent James Mejia, city police chief, said though the suspect remained unidentified while authorities continued to gather leads on the kidnapping.
“Based on the description of the witnesses, the armed men were speaking Tagalog, Visaya, and a dialect unknown to them,” said Mejia, who heads Task Force Flor formed by the local crisis management committee.
Police and military forces have widened their search for Ongchua, to include nearby towns in Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay as well as Basilan.
Mejia cautioned Ongchua’s family from entertaining callers giving false information and are just out to exact money.
The Ongchuas have asked that they be allowed to handle the case once the kidnappers establish contact with them.