Ace
Jay Garban, 3; Zynielle Jay Garban, 2;
and
Ledegie Tomarong, 17.
|
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, April 1– Police and military forces are hot on trail of 10 gunmen, believed to be kidnappers, who seized one bakery worker and two grandchildren of a top official in the nearby town of Pitogo, this province.
Senior
Superintendent Sofronio Ecaldre, police provincial director, said the gunmen abducted
the children and used them as human shield when they engaged responding
policemen in a shootout around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay Poblacion, Pitogo.
Ecaldre
identified the children as Ace Jay Garban, 3; Zynielle Jay Garban, 2; all
grandchildren of Pitogo Vice Mayor Zosimo Garban and Ledegie Tomarong, 17, bakery
worker.
Prior
to the shootout, Ecaldre said the gunmen arrived aboard on two motorized bancas
that docked at the fish port of Pitigo town and rushed towards the residence of
Chzarenia Kapa Sajulga, a businesswoman.
Ecaldre
said the gunmen tried to abduct Sajulga, their primary target, but failed since
the businesswoman managed to run and locked herself in a room.
He
said the policemen rushed to the residence of Sajulga where a shootout ensued.
However,
he said the gunmen made good their escape as they grabbed the three children,
who were at the fish port, and made them as human shields that prevented the
policemen from further pursuing them.
He
said the gunmen fled towards the direction of the nearby province of Zamboanga
Sibugay.
He
said they have already coordinated with the Zamboanga Sibugay Police Office for
a joint effort in locating the whereabouts of the victims.