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  • Muslim rebels rescue kidnapped couple

    Monday, December 05, 2005
    Muslim rebels rescue kidnapped couple

    ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and government security forces rescued on Sunday a couple who were kidnapped by bandits in the southern Philippines.

    Felipe Lucanas and his wife Helen, both instructors at the Mindanao State University (MUS), were abandoned by their kidnappers in a village in Piagapo town, Lanao del Sur at about 2 a.m. when they learned that a joint MILF-military team was closing in on them.

    The kidnappers were using VHF radios that allowed them to monitor MILF conversation on updates in the group's efforts to rescue the hostages.

    "The bandits escaped, but there is a joint operation to capture them," Marines Brig. Gen. Mohammad bin Dolorfino, head of the government's peace panel ad hoc joint action group, said.

    The couple were kidnapped on Friday outside Marawi State University and were brought to Piagapo town.

    The 58-year-old professor said they were not harmed by the kidnappers, but the group apparently panicked after intercepting radio messages that the MILF and government forces were nearing their hideout.

    "The kidnappers, about five of them and all armed with M16 and M14 automatic rifles, panicked and got scared and talked about abandoning us for fear they would be captured by the rebels."

    "They went out of the house and they did not return, until the rebels swooped down and rescued us," Felipe said.

    Felipe said the rebels handed them over to Dolorfino's group.

    He said he and his wife were very tired and added he has no idea why they were kidnapped. He said he was worried because his wife has a heart ailment but otherwise, they were treated well.

    "I want to thank the MILF, the military, and of course, President Gloria Arroyo, for saving our lives. We pray that the peace talks will succeed and bring lasting peace to Mindanao," he said.

    Dolorfino said the military has been receiving reports that kidnappers will snatch teachers or students from the MSU to embarrass newly appointed president Ricardo De Leon.

    De Leon has been instituting reforms at the university and among the first he did was to terminate at least 90 security personnel who were not reporting for duty but were still in the payroll and roster.

    The couple was turned over to the members of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) for debriefing. Dolorfino said this is a matter of procedure. They were then reunited with their three grown-up children and other relatives who came to fetch them from the IMT office in Iligan City.

    The IMT, which is observing the peace process in Central Mindanao, lauded the immediate rescue Sunday of the professors.

    Lieutenant Colonel Mokhtar Jusuh, deputy IMT team leader, said this indicates a sincere commitment from both the MILF and the government to attain sustainable peace in Mindanao Region.

    The MILF said the kidnappers demanded P5 million for the couple's safe release.

    "The rescue operation was made possible because of good coordination and the exchange of intelligence between the MILF and government forces," said Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF.

    He said a rebel leader, Abdul Rakman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, led the rescue operation, mobilizing hundreds of rebels to track down the hostages.

    The MILF warned other kidnap groups, including the notorious Pentagon Gang, to stop their nefarious activities or risk being attacked by rebel forces.

    "Let this be a warning to bandits and kidnappers that the MILF will not tolerate these nefarious activities. We will pursue you," Kabalu warned.

    The MILF, the country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with Manila.

    It forged an agreement last year that paved the way for rebel forces to help government hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the MILF actively operates.

    The MILF also shares intelligence information about the Jemaah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf group with the military through the ad hoc joint action group.

    The United States labeled both the Jemaah Islamiya and Abu Sayyaf groups as foreign terrorist organizations and offered huge bounties for the capture of their leaders. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    Gotta like the organization's initials... sorry folks, that one just didn't get past me.
    "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes." G-Man

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    • #3
      MILF gets credit for kidnappers’ arrests

      First posted 00:03am (Mla time) Dec 02, 2005
      By Edwin Fernandez
      Inquirer News Service

      Editor's Note: Published on Page A19 of the December 2, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


      MIDSAYAP, NORTH Cotabato—At least three suspected kidnappers were arrested here Wednesday due to information provided by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said yesterday.

      Piñol said Mike Candao Tan and Ting Sainudin, both of Cotabato City, and Faisal Guialoson Mama, 28, of this town were believed to be members of the group that snatched engineer Bravick Araral.

      Araral, 69, and a resident of Parang, Maguindanao, was on his way to his farm in nearby Libungan when abducted at gunpoint on Nov. 21.

      Piñol said the MILF’s Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, led by lawyer Abdul Dataya, informed police operatives and intelligence operatives of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division that a pay-off for Araral’s freedom had been set in Barangay Poblacion 6 here.

      After receiving the report, he said the police and the military immediately organized a raiding team and cordoned off the area.

      The raiding team found the suspects and arrested them without encountering any resistance, according to Piñol.

      He said the raiding team also recovered Araral’s clothes and cash amounting to P114,000 from the three suspects but there was no sight of the victim.

      It was not clear whether or not the cash was part of the P10 million ransom the suspects had demanded from the victim’s family
      To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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      • #4
        MILF

        Can some one email them to change their initials?
        A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Jay
          MILF

          Can some one email them to change their initials?
          Seriously, don't they know what that means. don't they get porn?
          "Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time. "

          "Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed."

          Sir Winston Churchill

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          • #6
            EDIT: oops.

            should have read the article. I apologize.
            Last edited by giggs88; 07 Dec 05,, 00:07.

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            • #7
              uh...giggs, the Muslim group the article is referring to rescued a kidnapped couple from bandits, they didn't kidnap them.

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              • #8
                MILF!

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