ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 7, 2011) – Philippine authorities tagged a gang with links to the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group as behind the kidnapping of an Australian man in Zamboanga Sibugay province in the restive region of Mindanao.
Warren Rodwell, 53, had been seized on December 5 by several gunmen after he was shot in the foot while trying to fight off the kidnappers who barged in his house in the coastal town of Ipil, said Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.
“Based on witness account, Rodwell was shot in the foot while trying to fight off the kidnappers, who are members of a local gang, but with links to the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan province,” he said without further elaborating.
Rodwell, who is married to a Filipina, Miraflor Gutang, 27, also known as Grace, was alone in the house when gunmen seized him.
Cabangbang said security forces have launched a massive search for Rodwell in the Zamboanga Peninsula which is made up of the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Basilan.
He said the kidnappers escaped toward the sea with their captive, but it was unknown whether they managed to flee the town. He said the kidnappers have not contacted the foreigner’s wife or made any demand for his release.
Army Colonel Gerry Barientos, commander of the 102nd Infantry Brigade based in Ipil, said they deployed troops to track down the kidnappers, who could still be in the province. “We have deployed more soldiers in the province to track down the kidnappers and the hostage. They could still be in the province,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Local reporters who were able to interview Rodwell’s wife said she made an appeal to the kidnappers to free the Australian man, saying they don’t have money (to pay ransom).
In September this year, kidnappers also seized the Filipino wife of a Scottish national in Ipil town – Luisa Galvez 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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