Bandits kidnap public school teacher in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY (CORRECTED) - Gunmen abducted a young female teacher in a remote village east of this city late Wednesday afternoon, a police official said Thursday.

Senior Inspector Joel Tuttuh, police commander of Station 1 based in Vitali district, identified  the victim as Cathy Vejerano Casipong, 23, resident of Barangay Zambowood and assigned to the Sibugtoc Elementary School in the coastal village of Limaong, some 70 kilometers away from the city proper.

Casipong is the third victim to be abducted in a weeks time in Zamboanga Peninsula, according to the police.

Tuttuh said Casipong and three other teachers were on board a motorized boat when they were intercepted by the gunmen, who were also onboard two motorized boats.

The teacher was then transferred to the gunmen's boat and sped off towards the Eleven Islands.

Tuttuh said prompt response by the police and the military resulted in the arrest of one of the suspects.

The police official declined to identify the arrested suspect, who is the alleged operator of one of the getaway pumpboats of the suspects.

Tuttuh said they are confident that the gunmen have not slipped out of the territorial waters of Zamboanga City due to the bad sea condition since Wednesday night.

“Our pursuing forces remained in the area to trap the kidnappers and prevent them from escaping,” Tuttuh said.

Col. Andrelino Colina, chief of the Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ), said troops were scouring the Eleven Islands for the abductors and the victim.

The military has also alerted its forces in the nearby province of Basilan to monitor the possible arrival of the abductors and the teacher.