Photo from Elliot Eastman’s Facebook page
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 19 October) – Police commands in the island-provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (BaSulTa) are on high alert following the kidnapping of an American who was reportedly brought there by his armed abductors, an official said.
“We are on alert. We are conducting relentless monitoring now and have deployed our ground commanders who have territorial jurisdiction in the mentioned provinces,” said Brigadier General Romeo Juan Macapaz, the newly installed regional director of Police Regional Office (PRO) – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, in a press conference on Friday, October 18, at their headquarters in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte.
On Thursday night, American content creator Elliot Onil Eastman, of Hinesborg, Vermont, USA was abducted in Sitio Tungawan, Barangay Poblacion in Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte by four armed men, believed to be Abu Sayyaf members, Brigadier General Bowenn Joey Masauding, PRO-9 director, said in a press briefing.
But Macapaz declined to say if the abductors belong to the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
“There is no confirmation on that. The ASG has been dormant for quite a while. We are still conducting an investigation,” he stressed.
The Sibuco police reported that the victim resisted and tried to run away but was shot in the leg. The suspects, who introduced themselves as police officers, then forced him to a boat that headed towards the seas of Sulu and Basilan.
In a statement, the United States (US) embassy in Manila said it is working with Philippine authorities on the reported kidnapping of its citizen.
“We are aware of the reports and are coordinating with local authorities,” the embassy said.
The embassy added that the US “generally does not comment on reports of potential kidnappings while investigations are ongoing.”
However, the embassy stressed that the “Department of State has no greater priority than the welfare and safety of US citizens abroad.”
Eastman’s content creations include daily life in Zamboanga del Norte, among others. He is married to a Filipina from Sibuco town.
As content creator, he has 2,900 followers on Facebook and 1,240 subscribers on YouTube.
His last live post on YouTube was around 9 p.m. on Thursday, showing him eating lanzones alone inside a house, wearing only shorts. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
