ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 19, 2011) – Kidnappers freed a Filipina trader in the southern Philippine after six weeks in captivity in the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday.
Officials said Monaliza Kapa, 40, kidnapped on October 9 in Pitogo town in Zamboanga del Sur province, was fetched by her relatives Friday in Zamboanga City where she was freed unharmed.
Kapa’s family owns a small fleet of fishing boats and an ice plant in Pitogo town.
The details of her release were unknown, but the military and police said Kapa’s uncle Alimbuddin Bual, who is a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), negotiated with the kidnappers for the victim’s freedom.
“The kidnapped victim was safely recovered by her relatives along Varela Street in Zamboanga City. Her uncle negotiated for her safe release and allegedly no ransom was paid,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but authorities suspect Moro rebels could be behind it. The woman’s family did not give any statement to the media about the release.
Another rebel group, the Abu Sayyaf, is still holding an American teenager, Kevin Eric Lunsmann, in Basilan province. Rebels kidnapped him, his mother, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, 43, and her Filipino nephew Romnick Jakaria, 19, while vacationing in Zamboanga City on July 12.
The woman was in Basilan’s Maluso on October 2 to raise ransom for her boy, and Jakaria was also released November 13. But the fate of the remaining hostage is unclear, although Filipino officials said the kidnappers were negotiating ransoms directly with the woman’s husband in the United States.
Local media have reported that the kidnappers demanded $10 million ransoms for Gerfa and her son, but this could not be immediately confirmed. Gerfa was born in Basilan province and moved to the United States when she was nine years old after an American family adopted her. (Mindanao Examiner)
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