ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 22 May) – Gunmen suspected to be Abu Sayyaf bandits seized a social worker in Basilan Wednesday, a day after the abduction of a fishing boat skipper, a police official disclosed Wednesday.
Senior Supt. Mario Dapilloza, Basilan police director, identified the abducted social worker as Jenelyn Entera, who is in charge of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the municipality of Ungkaya Pukan.
Dapilloza said Entera was inspecting some of the 4Ps beneficiaries when four gunmen suspected to be Abu Sayyaf bandits seized her around 9 a.m. Wednesday in Barangay Ulitan in Ungkaya Pukan.
The suspects, armed with caliber .45 pistols, forced Entera to board one of the two motorcycles without registration plates and sped towards the municipality of Sumisip, Dapiloza said.
Policemen, in coordination with the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade, were deployed to track down the whereabouts of the abducted DSWD staff, he disclosed.
Entera’s abduction came a day after a group of unidentified gunmen abducted Lucio Gonzales, the skipper of F/B Albert of the Zamboanga City-based SMR fishing firm.
Gonzales was abducted by 15 gunmen around 8 a.m. Tuesday in the vicinity of Mataha in the municipality of Lantawan, Dapilloza said.
F/B Albert was on fishing venture when 15 gunmen aboard two small boats locally known as “jungkung” arrived and at gunpoint took Gonzales, he said.
The gunmen fled towards the direction of Sulu province, leaving behind the rest of the fishing boat crew unharmed, Dapilloza added.
