Palace confident local crisis team can handle mayor's abduction

Malacañang expressed confidence the local crisis committee set up by provincial officials in Surigao del Sur will resolve the abduction of a town mayor there early Saturday. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte also noted the military in the area had set up checkpoints to intercept the armed men who abducted Lingig town Mayor Henry Dano and two of his military escorts. “Governor Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur has convened the provincial crisis committee. We’ll be looking to them for more details. We have to trust in the competence of provincial and local crisis committees," she said on government-run dzRB radio. She also said the Armed Forces of the Philippines had set up checkpoints, even as the Palace is contacting the Interior Department to get an update on its actions. “From the information we got, the AFP went to the area to investigate and has set up checkpoints," she said. Earlier police reports indicated suspected members of the New People’s Army abducted Dano and two of his escorts. An initial investigation showed some 30 fully armed NPA rebels on three vehicles arrived at the Dano residence in Lingig Poblacion around 6:30 a.m. and seized the mayor and his two escorts. One of the suspects, wearing a Barong Tagalog, knocked on the gate of the house of Dano and introduced himself as a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel. The other suspects were wearing camouflage uniforms. — LBG, GMA News