By SAMIRA GUTOC
ABS-CBN Iligan City
Thirty-four days later, kidnap victim Professor Sherwin Nacua, 45, of the Mindanao State University’s (MSU) Biology Department is still in captivity, prompting concerned relatives from Iligan City and friends to appeal to media for support.
"We hope concerned individuals can help," Iligan City-based and Jaycee senator Ditto Maruhom told this reporter.
Kidnapping incidents in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) took centerstage with broadcast reporter Ces Drilon and her team's kidnapping in Sulu. The team was released a week after their kidnapping.
Kidnapped with Drilon’s team was MSU Professor Octavio Dinampo.
Observers said Nacua remains in captivity because media has not given much attention to the case.
Sherwin still alive
Lawyer Macacuna Muslim, head of the MSU’s negotiating team, said Nacua is still alive.
Muslim said he was able to talk to Nacua by phone and assured the abducted professor that everything is being done for his release.
The lawyer, meanwhile, belied reports that the Biology Department’s faculty members refused to conduct classes last week in protest of the university management’s lack of action on Nacua’s case.
Biology Dean Fatima Natangcop said the 22 faculty members merely "took a break" due to "exhaustion of waiting for news about Nacua and to revitalize the faculty."
Other sources, meanwhile, expressed disappointment that the MSU administration under the new president Macapado Muslim was not exerting as much "front-line effort" because the kidnapping occurred "outside the jurisdiction" of university campus.
Nacua and more than 20 other professors and students were aboard a jeepney and were going home to Iligan City on June 26 when armed men held them up in Saguiaran town, 15 minutes away from MSU campus in Marawi City.
Nacua was the only victim taken by the abductors as they escaped towards Piagapo town, where a camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camp is reportedly located.
"Negotiations as sensitive as this take time," said Natangcop. "We instead suggest checkpoints be placed at the point of kidnapping."
Negotiating Nacua's Release
Lanao del Sur police Director Adap Paniares said aside from the MSU effort, a crisis management committee is also negotiating for Nacua’s release.
The committee is headed by Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Mayor Fahad Salic of Piagapo and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) of the military and the MILF.
Paniares confirmed that there is a ransom request but refused to give details.
"Politicians here fear they might suffer the fate of Mayor [Alvarez] Isnaji and his son," he said.
Isnaji, the appointed negotiator of Driilon’s kidnappers, was arrested by police for allegedly taking part of the ransom money paid to Abu Sayyaf bandits.
Paniares said Nacua’s kidnappers were reportedly disgruntled employees of MSU who have been removed by the new administration of Macapado Muslim.
Nacua’s abduction was the third kidnapping incident this year in Marawi City.
On March 29, Korean trader Jung Tae-yung and Victor Macasera Jr. were abducted in the province.
Macasera and Jung Tae-yung were released 56 days after the kidnapping due to a concerted effort of negotiations by tribal leaders, local government units, the police and the military.
The MSU-Main campus is within the Muslim-dominated part of Marawi City, capital of Lanao del Sur.
More than 50 percent of its student and faculty population are non-Muslims.
Other Stories
Zamboanga highway collapses, isolates city
ZAMBAONGA CITY - More than a hundred motorists and passengers of public buses were stranded after a 30-meter part of the highway east of Zamboanga City collapsed.abs-cbnNEWS.com