CAMP UPPER CALARIAN, Zamboanga City: Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom) chief, announced here recently that Abu Sayyaf Group bandits who kidnapped late last month Jolo-based government physician Dr. Daniel Moreno were demanding P5 million for his release.
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Sobejana told local reporters that the doctor’s relatives earlier received the ransom demand in exchange for Moreno’s freedom and that of other abducted victims “but the ‘no-ransom policy’ has long been strictly implemented by our command.”
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The WesMinCom chief pinpointed the group of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan as responsible for the doctor’s kidnapping.
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Moreno was about to leave his hospital’s office with another health personnel to visit a bed-ridden patient when he was kidnapped.
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Sobejana earlier received a military report that Sawadjaan had been appointed “emir of the [Islamic State] in southern Philippines.
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The military also earlier said Moreno was abducted because the terrorist group needed a doctor for Sawadjaan, who is “long suffering from tuberculosis.”
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Sobejana assured to initiate all necessary measures “to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf bandits by the end of this year” in line with orders from President Rodrigo Duterte who had reportedly described the ASG as a major military security problem, together with the communist New People’s Army, in Mindanao.
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The bandit group still holds captive five Indonesian fishermen on Tambisan Island located off Sulu Sea and has demanded P30 million from the fishermen’s employer for their immediate release.
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Military authorities identified the five abducted victims as fishing boat skipper Arsyad Dahlan, 41; Arizal Kastamiran, 29; La Baa, 32; Riswando Hayano, 27; and Edi Lawalopo 53.
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Sobejana said he had received reports that the five hostages are heavily guarded by their ASG captors.
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Source: The Manila Times - 10 Mar 2020
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