Officials locating social workers abducted by Abu Sayyaf

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Officials are now trying to establish contacts with the abductors of three surveyors snatched on Thursday in Talipao, Sulu while interviewing local beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The victims, Lerna Jurah, Roberto Sapatulo, and Nurhani Sikangko were abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits while in Barangay Upper Sinumaan in Talipao.

The victims were commissioned by the government to do a survey on the impact of the 4Ps on the lives of local beneficiaries.

“Efforts to locate their whereabouts are now being done with the help of local officials,” said Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, director of the ARMM regional police.

Delos Reyes said ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman ordered on Friday the regional police to enlist the help of Muslim clerics and members of the provincial peace and order council in securing the victims' release.

Delos Reyes said Hataman and Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan Jr. are now initiating backchannel means of convincing the kidnappers to set the three captives free.

"Their efforts are being closely coordinated with the police and the military," Delos Reyes said. 

Hataman appealed to the kidnappers of the three 4Ps surveyors to release them unharmed in keeping with the spirit of the Ramadhan atonement season.

Physically-fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the Ramadhan, which started June 29 and will end with the sighting of the new moon, anytime in the last week of July, to mark the start of the month of Shawwal in the lunar-based Islamic Hijrah calendar.

”We adhere to the government’s no ransom policy. We may negotiate for their release, but without any ransom payment whatsoever,” Hataman said.

Delos Reyes said military intelligence units in Sulu have also been helping the provincial police identify the kidnappers of the three surveyors.