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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Four aid workers
were kidnapped Monday in the island of Basilan, a known stronghold
of Moro rebels, police said.
Police identified the victims as
Esperancita Hupida, Millet Mendoza, Ludy Borja Dekit and Dionisio
Estandarte. Two others–Romeo de los Reyes and Sahida Alasa–managed
to escape from their captors.
The victims were on their way
back to Isabela City from a meeting with town officials when 10
gunmen intercepted them before noon near the Kabangalan village in
Tipo-Tipo town, where Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front
rebels were actively operating, said Senior Superintendent Salik
Macapantar, the island’s police chief.
“Police and military forces are
tracking down the hostages. We still do not know who were behind the
latest kidnappings,” he said.
The victims were members of the
Christian Children’s Fund and the Nagdilaab Foundation Inc. (NFI),
which were both active in various humanitarian projects in Basilan,
just several miles off Zamboanga City.
Police said Hupida is the program
director of NFI.
Father Angel Calvo, a Catholic
missionary and head of the Peace Advocate Zamboanga, appealed to
kidnappers to free the hostages. He said the kidnappers were holding
a fifth hostage, who was helping coordinate humanitarian projects in
Basilan.
Calvo said the hostages are
community development workers who have been serving the Muslim
communities in Basilan for many years now.
He said the victims were on their
way back to Isabela City from a meeting with town officials when the
gunmen flagged down the vehicles.
NFI was conferred the Ateneo
Peace Award last month because of its dedicated leadership and
unwavering involvement in the “Panta-bangan Basulta,” a
consortium of 10 nongovernment organizations that engaged and
supported local leaders and multisectoral constituents in the
provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi to develop sustainable
interventions to promote peace and development in partnership with
communities and stakeholders.
NFI spun off the Isabela
Foundation, which was organized many years ago by the Roman Catholic
prelature of Basilan to provide community and humanitarian help to
poor residents in the province.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf also
kidnapped nine people in recent months in Basilan and sent letters
to Christians living on the island threatening them with harm if
they do not embrace Islam.
The letters were signed by Puruji
Indama and Nur Hassan Jamiri, both known leaders of the Abu Sayyaf
group.
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