Zambo kidnapped teachers made contacts

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The three (3) kidnapped Zamboanga teachers have made contacts to emissaries Police here proving they are “all in good condition and all alive”, the city government declared Monday.

“There is proof of life and they are in good condition,” Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said of Frairez Quizon, Rafael Mayonado and Janette de los Reyes, teachers of Landang Laum and Guwa School.

Acting City Police Director P/Sr. Supt. Mario B. Yanga and PNP Regional Director P/Chief Supt. Angelo Sunglao met Lobregat in a close door meeting recently and relayed the information to the latter.

The trio has been held by Abu Sayyaf gunmen, believed to have ties with Al-Qaeda’s Asian terrorist group, Jemaah Islamia for two months to date.

Police and military information claim the victims are being held in the mountains of Tuburan, Basilan.

Authorities are also holding a picture of the three teachers seen in a hut less their captors which was shown to relatives, a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Lobregat admitted having contacts with the group holding the three teachers, but declined to give further details.

What was certain, according to Lobregat, the kidnapped teachers are all “in good condition” and are all alive.

The three teachers were snatched last January 23, while on board a motorized pumpboat on the way to mainland Zamboanga by four armed men and were brought to nearby island province of Basilan.

The kidnappers demanded 6-million pesos ransom (US$ 124,000), for the three teachers, who come from very poor families and barely live on their salaries.

Lobregat reiterated his appeal for the release of the victims as “they (victims) did not fault anyone and that they serve wholeheartedly to educated children of our Muslim brothers and sisters on the island barangays.”

The city government and Department of Education stand pat of the government’s “no ransom policy” in dealing with kidnapping incidents.