ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 8, 2011) – The search for a kidnapped Australian man in the restive region of the southern Philippines continues, but so far there have been no reports of contacts with the gang holding the former soldier-turned-university teacher, security officials said.
The 53-year old Warren Rodwell was seized by gunmen inside his house in Greenmeadows Subdivision in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Ipil town which was also pillaged in April 1995 by Abu Sayyaf militants that left 53 people dead.
Officials said Australian embassy officials and Federal police have arrived in Zamboanga City and met with senior police and military commanders, but details of their meeting were not made public.
“Australian embassy officials are in Zamboanga and they have met with Filipino authorities about Warren Rodwell,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.
He said the Mayor Edwin Alibutdan, of Ipil town, now heads the crisis management committee – with the police and military commanders in the province as members – tasked to solve Rodwell’s kidnapping.
Government troops continue to scour a huge part of Zamboanga’s hinterlands in search for the kidnappers and their hostage, but also expanded the operation to include other nearby provinces – Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Basilan – a known stronghold of Abu Sayyaf militants tied by authorities to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya and blamed for numerous kidnappings of foreigners and wealthy Filipinos in the troubled region of Mindanao.
“There is still no contact with the kidnappers, but our search operation continues,” said Army Colonel Gerry Barientos, commander of the 102nd Infantry Brigade based in Ipil town.
Rodwell has married a Filipina, Miraflor Gutang, 27, in June this year after an “Internet love affair.”
Cris Llanos, a spokesman for Zamboanga Sibugay Governor Rommel Jalosjos, said Rodwell bought a house in Ipil town and moved in October with his wife, who is a native of Naga town also in the province.
“There have been living here the past two months. They are a simple couple. Warren is just a simple man. They are not really wealthy or rich,” he said.
Gutang has reportedly moved out of Ipil town and is living with her family in Naga after a fight with Rodwell last month.
Rodwell’s neighbors had complained also about the foreigner’s arrogance, according to a security official who read a military background report on the foreigner who once served in the Australian army.
“A background investigation by the military showed that Rodwell is not popular among his neighbors. He is perceived as arrogant,” the official said.
Rodwell has been teaching English language in China, India, Myanmar and Thailand and is involved with a United Nations education development programme in South America.
His website said he is a full-time international expatriate, English-native-speaker and regards Shanghai as his global base, and has been living in Asia the past decades.
“Of course, selecting cheaper countries to live in and being away from large cities helps. Accepting your own mortality is also most useful, especially if you don’t have financial or family responsibilities back in your place of origin. True wealth is best measured in terms of happiness and inner peace.”
“Nevertheless, be aware that you will be perceived as rich no matter where you go. Such opinions naturally form once it becomes obvious that you are doing what you want (nothing wrong with that!) without consumer debt or the private prejudices of supposed advanced yet insular societies. Life is for living. Freedom of thought, choice and movement,” Rodwell wrote in his personal website which can be accessed on this URL: http://warrenrodwell.shutterfly.com.
“Survival skills and a sense of adventure developed through full contact sport and uniformed roles / training, coupled with consistently high level academic pursuits and business management experience have been of distinct assistance in the personal evolvement of this down-to-earth pragmatic human being,” he added.
No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. But the military tagged a local gang with links to the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan province as behind it.
In September this year, kidnappers also seized the Filipino wife of a Scottish national in Ipil town – Luisa Morrison – and brought her by boat to Basilan province where she was rescued by soldiers a week later following a firefight with the Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner)
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