ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 7, 2014) – A Filipina boat owner was seized by gunmen during a raid late Friday on a remote island off the southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi, authorities said.
Authorities identified the victim as Dianne Esperanza Buenviaje, whose family operates a ferry that plies the Sulu Archipelago, Zamboanga City and Palawan Island. The gunmen barged in the woman’s house on Mapun Island near Sabah, Malaysia and dragged her to a waiting speedboat.
Philippine police and military forces, including the Coast Guard has joined the search for the abducted woman who was taken from the village of Liyubud.
Lt. Junior Grade Jomark Angue, Zamboanga City Coast Guard Station chief, said the victim’s family operates ML Sugar Dianne. “The Philippine Coast Guard, the Philippine Marines and the Philippine National Police have launched a search and rescue operation in the vicinity of Mapun in Tawi-Tawi where the alleged abduction happened,” he said.
No other details were made available by authorities and no individual or group claimed responsibility for the abduction, although pirates and the rebel group Abu Sayyaf are actively operating in the Sulu Archipelago. (E. Dumabo)
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