COTABATO CITY—Police have launched a province-wide manhunt against three men believed to be behind the abduction of General Santos City-based bank manager and accountant who was later found in Tantangan, South Cotabato.
Senior Insp. Johnny Rick Felongco, Tantangan police chief, said the manhunt has been ongoing with the help of the Army, after they received information the abductors fled to Sultan Kudarat province.
He refused to provide additional details on the abductors’ identities and location so as not to jeopardize the operation.
Felongco said it was not a case of kidnap for ransom, but appeared to be a business deal gone wrong.
Felongco identified the supposed victim as Alain Alforete Abe-abe, 33, branch manager and accountant of Banco de Oro (BDO) Bank-Santiago branch in General Santos City.
Abe-abe told Tantangan police that he was about to receive P750,000 from a certain Mark Tabasco, a businessman near the Hall of Justice in Barangay Lagao General Santos on October 13, when armed men forced them inside the van at past 3 p.m.
The van sped toward Koronadal City. While inside the van, the victims were blindfolded and forced to take medicine that made them sleep.
Abe-abe was found by residents at about 7 a.m. on October 15 on the highway in Purok Nursery, Barangay Maibo, Tantangan, South Cotabato.
“He was still asleep on a roadside when found by residents,” Felongco said, adding that all of Abe-abe’s valuables were gone.
The victim was brought to Municipal Health Office of Tantangan for medical checkup before he was turned over to the Anti-Kidnapping Group of General Santos City police.
Felongco believed that the abductors were alarmed by the presence of a police checkpoint along the highway, forcing them to drop the victim.
Tabasco, however, remains missing.
PNA