PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 30, 2014) – Kidnappers have freed 3 people before dawn Saturday after two weeks in captivity in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Sur, an army spokesman said.
Captain Franco Suelto, of the 1st Infantry Division, said troops were closely working with the police in tracking down the kidnappers after they released their hostages – Engineer Francisco Enot and his wife Loida Enot, and Danilo Bariga.
The trio was freed to businesswoman Johairah Macabuat near the town of Madalum and escorted them to the 51st Infantry Battalion in Balindong town and subsequently brought to the hospital for a routine medical examination.
“The victims have undergone medical checkup and reunited with their families at the Provincial Guest House,” Suelto told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The trio was kidnapped by 5 gunmen on August 15 in the village of Paraaba in Lanao’s Ganassi town and it was unknown if ransom was paid in exchange for their freedom.
Their kidnapping was not reported in the media and it was not immediately known if Macabuat negotiated for their safe release. Lanao is one of five provinces under the troubled Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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