Abu Sayyaf abducts social workers

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Abu Sayyaf gunmen abducted four government social workers Thursday afternoon in the hinterland of Talipao, Sulu, police said. 

Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, Sulu provincial police director, said the victims were assigned by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to conduct survey on the possible beneficiary of the government’s  conditional cast transfer (CCT) program known of as the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) when the gunmen took them at gunpoint in Barangay Upper Sinumaan about 3 p.m. Thursday.

“The victims were deployed in the area to conduct survey for the beneficiaries of the CCT when they were taken forcibly by the armed men who were members of the Abu Sayyaf in the area,” Orbita said. 

Orbita opted not to release the names of the victims following request by the DSWD as coordination have been made with the victims’ families to free the victims safely.

He said three of the victims were all Muslims residents of Sulu.

Orbita said they were monitoring whether the abductors have already contacted the victims’ families or authorities to issue their demands for the safe release of the victims.

Police forces and marines were on pursuit operation to rescue of the captives. 

The abduction of the social workers have brought the number of captives held separately by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu to 10 victims, including two Germans, two European birdwatchers, a Malaysian maritime peacekeeper and a local construction worker.