Filipina kidnapped in Sabah reunited with family

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - A Filipina overseas worker who was kidnapped along with a Chinese tourist in a resort in Sabah last April by Abu Sayyaf gunmen has been reunited with her family in a remote barangay in Midsayap town in the province.

Mercelita Dayawan Tamalla, 40, mother of two, said she has no intention of returning to Malaysia to work again at the Singamata Adventures Reefs and Resort, from where she and a tourist, Gao Hua Yuan, were snatched.

“I’d like to thank the Malaysian government for helping facilitate my return to the Philippines,” Tamalla told reporters.

Tamalla arrived at their house in Bual District in Midsayap at about 7 p.m. Friday from Manila.

Tamalla said she and the Chinese tourist were kidnapped by seven heavily-armed Abu Sayyaf bandits, who, using a speedboat, brought them to the island province of Sulu, where they were held captive for almost two months.

“They kept telling us all they wanted was money in exchange for our release. I told them I am just an ordinary resort worker, but they would not listen,” Tamalla said.

She said one of the kidnappers had told her that they thought she was a companion of the 29-year-old Gao and so they also spirited her away too.

The kidnappers first asked for a P500 million ransom from Tamalla and Gao’s family, and lowered the amount to P50 million as their captivity prolonged.

“I come from a poor barrio family so I felt I would eventually end up executed by our captors because my family has no money for ransom,” Tamalla said.

She said their captors are led by a guerilla named Alhabsi Misaya, an ethnic Tausog.

It was Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak who first announced in Malaysia that Gao and Tamalla were both rescued in a joint operation of Malaysian and Philippine security forces.

Tamalla said Gao celebrated her 29th birthday while in captivity.

“It appeared to us that we were held captive not far from a town center because there were times our captors served us nicely cooked food bought from somewhere out,” she said.