AFP focusing on Sulu, Tawi-Tawi for kidnappers

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The military is focusing its maritime surveillance in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in an effort to locate the Chinese tourist and Filipina resort worker snatched by armed men from a diving resort in Sabah, Malaysia, a senior security official said yesterday.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero said government troops have been combing the two island provinces.

“We are focusing on Tawi-Tawi and Sulu for maritime surveillance patrol of previously identified areas where there are lawless activities,” he said.

Guerrero, however, declined to specify the areas, citing operational security.

Last week, six armed men snatched Gao Hua Yuan, 29, a tourist from Shanghai, China, and Marcelita Dayawan, staff worker of the Singamata Reef Resort on Semporna, in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah.

Malaysian authorities said the kidnappers, along with their hostages, fled on a speedboat toward the country’s southern islands.

The military is on the lookout for the group of a certain Murphy Ambang Ladia alias Haji Gulam, who hails from Pandami Island in Sulu.

Ladia is known to have links with Abu Sayyaf leader Binang Sahirol, whose group is known to operate in Tawi-Tawi.

Guerrero said military units have stepped up operations in Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

“We are coordinating with the Philippine National Police and other agencies to address this current kidnapping, along with other previous unresolved cases,” he added.

Police and the military have yet to recover at least seven captives, including two European bird watchers seized in February 2012 by Ladia’s group. The rest are Sulu residents. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe