ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 23, 2014) – Abu Sayyaf gunmen released the last of 4 social workers they kidnapped in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, officials said Wednesday.
Sulu police chief, Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, said they recovered Robert Saputalo near the village of Kagay in Talipao town late Tuesday.
“His safe release was due to the pressure of law enforcement operations by security sector and the local government,” Orbita told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said Saputalo was brought to the provincial hospital for a routine medical check-up before being reunited with his family.
Abu Sayyaf militants also freed recently two other social workers, couple Nurhati and Mark Sicangco, in the village of Danag in Patikul town and were fetched by their relatives and brought to the house of the local vice mayor. It was unknown if ransoms were paid for their safe release.
The kidnappers had earlier freed another social worker Lerna Jurah. The four social workers were conducting a house-to-house survey on the government’s anti-poverty program for the Department of Social Welfare and Development when armed men seized them in the village of Upper Sinumaan in Talipao town.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding at least 10 kidnapped victims, including foreigners seized from the neighboring Tawi-Tawi province and Sabah in Malaysia. (Mindanao Examiner)
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