Agusan Sur gov initiates negotiations for 16 hostages

PROSPERIDAD, AGUSAN DEL SUR— Agusan del Sur governor Adolf Edward Plaza has initiated negotiations for the safe release of the 16 hostages —mostly teachers, including two children— who were abducted Friday afternoon by armed men in a remote barangay in the town of Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur. In a mobile phone interview, Plaza said he had already instructed the provincial crisis management committee to initiate “immediate but peaceful" negotiations to resolve the crisis. Prosperidad town Mayor Albin Magdamit also assured relatives that the hostages are safe and were not harmed by their abductors. Teachers and children abducted An initial report indicated that the armed group, led by Navarro Alejandro Brital, 18, abducted the hostages on the roadside in Purok 7, Sitio Balite, Barangay La Purisima, at around 4 pm on April 1. Sources said that the victims, who had just attended the recognition rites at Valentina G. Plaza (VGP) Primary School in Sitio Balite, were walking down the road when they were blocked by ten gunmen. Magdamit said that the armed group took hostages as leverage to demand the release of Ondo Perez, a detained former member of the Civilian Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), now facing charges of kidnapping and multiple murder. Perez is currently detained at the Provincial Jail in Patin-ay, also in Prosperidad. In 2009, Perez and his armed group allegedly attacked the Maitum Elementary School and took the school children hostage in Sitio Maitum, Barangay San Martin, in Prosperidad. Perez, one of the suspects in the massacre of the family of Jun Tubay, reportedly took hostages to prevent his arrest. Hostages named Among the hostages were the Agusan del Sur school division supervisor, a school supervisor for district II, six teachers, and two gradeschoolers. Governor Plaza’s office identified the hostages as Hipolito Lastimado, school division supervisor; Narciso Oliveros, district II school supervisor; Joel Sausa, teacher; Manuel Mordeno, teacher-in-charge of Maiton elementary school; Mary Jane Bedrijo, volunteer-teacher; Allan Galdiano, teacher; Filipina Quitoy, teacher-in-charge of VGP Primary School; and Diosdidi Cabantak, teacher. Also held hostage were Pido Dolorito, motorcycle-for-hire driver; Marcel Lagnason, motorcycle-for-hire driver; and Quitoy’s husband, Armand and their two children, a 10-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy. The other three victims have not yet identified. The report also identified three of the armed men as Allan and Ken Ken Perez, brothers of Ondo Perez; and Ilag Perez, a relative of Ondo. The suspects were reportedly armed with cal. 45 guns and M-14 rifles. — TJD, GMA News