ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Unidentified gunmen abducted a couple, who are ranking public school officials, Monday night in the town of Zamboanga del Sur, according to police official.
The police said one of the victims was able to escape while being loaded into a getaway pumpboat in the coastal Barangay of Kumalarang town.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of Police Regional Office 9 (PRO), identified the victims as Rudy Luna and his wife Tessie, both supervisors of the Kumalarang Central Elementary School in Kumalarang town.
Police investigation disclosed eight unidentified gunmen barged into the victims residence about 8 p.m, Monday at Barangay Diplo and at gunpoint seized them using their own sports utility vehicle, a white Toyota Fortuner, as getaway vehicle.
Huesca said the suspects with their captive couple fled towards sitio Dacun, Barangay Picanan, a coastal village where a getaway pumpboat was waiting.
“The wife of Luna managed to escape while they were being forced into the pumpboat,†according to Huesca.
The gunmen left the woman who escaped and forcibly taken Luna into the pumpboat that fled toward an unknown direction.
Responding police forces of Kumalarang Police Station failed to catch up with the suspect but recovered the victims’ Toyota Fortuner that was abandoned by the kidnappers.
Huesca said the local police forces are tracking down the suspects to rescue the victim.