Security forces are pursuing a band of kidnappers who abducted a 64-year-old man, said to be a Filipino-American, in Zamboanga del Norte on Wednesday.
The Army’s 1st Infantry Division (ID) said its forces and local policemen are running after the kidnappers of Rex Triplet, a resident of Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte.
Triplet was reportedly with his wife during the kidnapping but the woman managed to escape, a report from the 1stID under Maj. Gen. Generoso Ponio said.
The couple are reportedly on their way home to the village of Piacan on board a motorcycle driven by Triplet when four armed men in camouflage uniforms flagged them down.
Triplet’s wife, whom the military did not identify, managed to escape and seek help from officials of the adjoining village of Tapanayan.
The kidnapping was the first in years in Zamboanga del Norte. In November last year, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits kidnapped Briton Allan Hyron and his Filipino wife in neighboring Zamboanga del Sur.
The couple were rescued in Sulu by military forces two months after they were taken by the ASG.
In Rizal, a father-and-son, who were said to be the prime suspects in a series of kidnappings of Indian migrants, were killed during an alleged shootout with anti-kidnapping operatives on Wednesday night.
Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo, chief of the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) of the Philippine National Police, identified the suspects as Rodel Cabungcal Basi and his eldest son Romar Basi.
Estomo said members of the Special Operations Unit of the AKG were about to serve a search warrant at the residence of the suspects at Sitio Ibabaw 2, Dulongbayan in Teresa, Rizal when the shootout ensued.
The operating team recovered a .45 caliber pistol, a 9mm handgun and a shotgun.
Estomo said the two were involved in various cases, including kidnapping, gun-for-hire, homicide and murder.