Gunmen kill 1 of 3 hostages seized in Zambo Sur

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?&sid=6&pfn=749673&arch=1&go=Go&search_arch=Pagadian%20City,%20Zamboanga%20del%20Sur&andor=and&mdte_arch=4&ddte_arch=0&ydte_arch=2015

Ace Jay Garban, 3; Zynielle Jay Garban, 2;

and Ledegie Tomarong, 17.

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, (April 3, 2015)– Unidentified gunmen have killed one of the two minors abducted three days ago in the nearby town of Pitogo, a top police official disclosed Friday.

Senior Supt. Sofronio Ecaldre, provincial police director, said the remains of the child was fished out from sea by fishermen around 8 a.m. Friday near Pitogo town.

Ecaldre said the remains was taken to Pitogo and was positively identified by the family as Zynielle Jay Garban II.

Garban, her three-year-old elder brother, Ace Jay, and bakery worker Ledegie Tomarong, 17, were taken by 10 gunmen as human shield during a shootout around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at a fish port in Barangay Poblacion, Pitogo.

A shootout ensued as alerted policemen pursued the gunmen, who failed to seize their kidnapping target, businesswoman Chzarenia Kapa Sajulga, who owns a bakery in downtown Pitogo.

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.

Ecaldre said initial investigation showed that victim Garban II was strangled to death and thrown to the sea. The victim bore contusions in the neck.

He said that efforts to locate the whereabouts of two other hostages continue in coordination with the military authorities. (PNA)
CTB/TPGJR/HDC