ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 2, 2014) – Malaysia has released Filipina resort worker who was freed by the Abu Sayyaf along with a Chinese holidaymaker kidnapped in Sabah.
Malaysian authorities handed the 40-year old Marcy Dayawan to the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Dayawan and Shanghai woman Gao Huayun, 29, were freed on May 30 in Parang town in the southern Filipino province of Sulu after a leader of the former rebel Moro National Liberation Front, Nameh Sangkula, negotiated with the kidnappers for the release of the victims. They were whisked by Malaysian officials to a waiting speedboat and then brought to Sabah.
“The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur took over the care of Ms. Marcy Dayawan, a Filipina receptionist at the Singamata Resorts off Semporna in Sabah, who was abducted with Chinese tourist Gao Hua Yun on April 2. She was turned over to Embassy officials Sunday evening, June 1, and is expected to return to the Philippines shortly,” the Philippine Embassy said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The Kuala Lumpur-based news website The Rakyat Post reported June 1 that the Royal Malaysia Police detained Dayawan shortly after she arrived in Sabah. The report quoted Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib as saying that Dayawan is being interrogated in by the Royal Malaysia Police in Kuala Lumpur in connection to the investigation into the kidnappings. “We will detain her further until we are satisfied and confident that she is not involved in the kidnapping incident,” he said.
The police commissioner said Dayawan was an illegal worker and had entered Sabah illegally. He said the Filipina was employed by resort just two months before the kidnappings. “And if Marcy, who had entered Sabah illegally, is proven to be clean, she will be deported to her country of origin,” he said.
But the Philippine Embassy, quoting Malaysian authorities, said Dayawan was not considered a suspect in the kidnapping. “During the hand-over, Malaysian police authorities told Embassy officials that they did not consider her as an accomplice to the kidnapping plot and had cleared her of speculations. Ms. Dayawan said that she was given the choice to remain in the Philippines after her rescue, but she decided to return to Malaysia partly to clear her name,” it said.
It said it is also alarmed by the spate of cross-border kidnappings perpetrated by criminal elements from Mindanao, saying this has detrimental impact on Filipinos residing in Sabah.
“We wish that these groups desist from conducting such criminal activities, as many of the affected people in Mindanao and Sabah share a common heritage and have close affinity and blood ties. Carrying out or tolerating these criminal actions is a disservice to one’s country, fellowmen and kin,” the Philippine Embassy said.
It was not immediately known from Philippine authorities how much ransom was paid to the Abu Sayyaf or how tapped Sangkula to negotiate with the terrorist group, blamed for terrorism and spate of kidnappings in Mindanao region.
The kidnappers originally demanded RM36.4 million or equivalent to almost P500 million for the safe release of the Chinese woman and had threatened to behead Dayawan if ransom is not paid. Philippine authorities have tagged Abu Sayyaf commanders Murphy Ladja and Alhabsi Misaya in the kidnappings.
Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak insisted that no ransom was paid for the release of the hostages.
Director-General Datuk Mohammad Mentek, of the Eastern Sabah Security Command, has previously linked the kidnappers to the 2000 kidnappings of 21 mostly European holidaymakers and Asian workers at the Pulau Sipadan resort; and also in the kidnapping in November of a Taiwanese woman on Pom Pom Island, also in Sabah.
Malaysian authorities also said gunmen snatched May 6 a Chinese fish farm manager in Lahad Datu town in Sabah and clashed briefly with pursuing patrol before disappearing into the southern Philippines. At least 5 armed men on a speedboat intruded into the Wonderful Terrace and seized the 34-year Yang Zai Lin after he came out to check the commotion at the farm.
The latest abduction has forced Sabah authorities to declare curfew and travel restrictions in several areas there.
In November last year, the al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group kidnapped a Taiwanese tourist Chang An Wei, 58, after killing her husband Hsu Li Min, 57, in a daring cross-border raid in Sabah’s Pom Pom Island.
The woman was eventually released a month later near the village of Liban in Talipao town in Sulu after paying ransom. The Abu Sayyaf has resorted to ransom kidnappings to raise money for the purchase weapons and fund terror attacks in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
20