Mindanao State U tense after 2 students kidnapped

ILIGAN CITY— Following the abduction of two students last Tuesday, the atmosphere at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City remains thick with tension, students said on Friday. The kidnapping of two students by still unidentified men, who are suspected members of a new kidnap-for-ransom gang, has unnerved teachers and students alike, said students who requested anonymity. The MSU academic community is troubled by the fact that their beloved campus is now unsafe, they said. In a phone interview with GMANews.TV on Friday evening, Senior Superintendent Cossani Derogongan, recently-relieved Lanao del Sur provincial director, said that no one has yet come forward to identify the vehicle used by the abductors. According to initial police investigations, the two kidnapped students were lovers who snuck out for an early morning tryst at the grounds of the MSU dairy farm, located within the sprawling campus. The two were snatched at around 8 a.m. by armed men as they were on their way back to their respective cottages. Derogongan disclosed that the abductors brought their captives to one of the hinterland barangays of Piagapo, Lanao del Sur near the boundary with Lanao del Norte. Provincial military and police have launched rescue operations, Derogongan said, although he gave no details. The office of the MSU president said that it has yet to inform the parents of the kidnapped students, but is actively negotiating for their immediate release. The MSU campus in Marawi City, the university’s flagship campus, spreads across more than 1,000 hectares and is sparsely populated: students number only 10,000. Derogongan was relieved last week as OIC provincial director and replaced by Senior Supt. Pedrito Faronilmo. He spoke to reporters on behalf of Faronilmo, explaining that the newly deployed chief still had to be briefed about the province’s security situation. Earlier, the civil military operations officer of the Army's 65th Infantry Battalion, which operates in the area, said that the abductors were asking school officials P200,000 in exchange for the freedom of the two students. —DM/JV, GMANews.TV