Well-known television reporter Ces Drilon and two of her crew have been abducted while pursuing a story in the southernmost province Sulu by armed men believed to members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, police officials said.
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. said in a statement that Drilon, Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama were “missing in Sulu” and that “all efforts are underway to find them and bring them home.”
Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Drilon and the two crew members were intercepted Sunday in Maimbung, a township in the Sulu capital Jolo, by armed men under Albader Parad, an Abu Sayyaf leader in the area.
Goltiao said the TV news team flew to Mindanao on Saturday on the invitation of Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo “to cover a special event.”
Drilon was to interview the Abu Sayyaf, Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon told INQUIRER.net.
Goltiao said that Dinmapo picked up Drilon and her crew from a university hostel and that armed men, identified as being under Parad’s command, intercepted them as their vehicle passed through Kulasi village.
“Along the way in Kulasi, Maimbung, Sulu, they were intercepted by an armed group and now they are held in captivity,” said Goltiao. He said the group was brought to Indanan town in Sulu.
He initially identified the abductors as Albader Parad, an Abu Sayyaf member, and Gapur Jundain, a former member of the erstwhile separatist Moro National Liberation Front who recently joined the extremist group.
“We are closely monitoring with ABS-CBN as well as the military commander and the PNP Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Regional director,” said Razon.
“We are assisting them for the safe return of Ces that’s why we don’t highlight the situation,” he added, noting that they had no idea yet of Drilon’s whereabouts.
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