Kidnappers want $10M for Zambo hostages’ release

(Updated 8:20 p.m.) Gunmen who kidnapped an American woman, her son and her nephew in Zamboanga City last Tuesday are asking for a $10-million ransom (around P429 million) for the hostages’ release, a television report said Sunday. Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said the kidnappers contacted the hostages’ relatives in Virginia in the United States to demand the amount, GMA News stringer Jayvee Francisco reported on Sunday. Lobregat, head of the Crisis Management Committee that is handling the case, said the phone call was “very short" and was immediately cut off, according to the TV report. “We had a briefing yesterday and what I can say is that there is already a contact and what's important the most is the safety and the lives of the victims," Lobregat said in an interview Sunday. Lobregat refused to elaborate on how the contact was established. “At least you (media) know it already but the most important thing is the lives and safety of the victims, so that’s why we cannot elaborate some more," he said.
Last Tuesday, a group of gunmen snatched Gerfa Lunsmann, her son Kevin Eric and her Filipino nephew, Romnick Jackaria, from a beach house in Tictabon Island, south of Zamboanga City. Authorities are still determining which group was behind the kidnapping. None of the armed groups operating in the area have claimed responsibility for the abduction. The small but violent Islamic bandit group Abu Sayyaf and the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), are both active in the area. - Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK, GMA News