A BUSINESSWOMAN who was abducted by armed men in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte, on Monday had been rescued in Sulu, the Joint Task Force Sulu said Wednesday.
“Troops of the 35th Infantry Battalion rescued kidnap victim Martina Yee in Sulu this morning,” the task force said.
Major Felimon Tan Jr., spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, confirmed the rescue.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces Chief Ricardo Visaya, who was confirmed by the powerful Commission on Appointments on
Wednesday, vowed to crush the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf and free its 16 hostages before he leaves the service in December.
Visaya is set to retire on Dec. 8, when he reaches the compulsory retirement age of 56.
“¨“Our goal is no more hostages and the Abu Sayyaf will be crushed,” Visaya told reporters.
He said a one-third of the Army was going after the 400-member Abu Sayyaf.
A Catholic Church leader on Wednesday described the Abu Sayyaf as one of the most violent jihadist groups and called its members “practical atheists.”
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo told a gathering of the world’s religious leaders that the Abu Sayyaf were atheists waging war in the name of God.
But he said one could not wage war in the name of God.
“Their behavior and actuations deny God,” Quevedo said.
Yee, 60, was forcibly taken around 3 p.m. on Monday from her store in Poblacion village.
“She was dragged to the shore and was forced to board a pump boat bound for Zamboanga City,” Tan said.
She was kidnapped only days after the Abu Sayyaf released a Norwegian, three Indonesians and two Filipinos in Sulu.
The military says the Abu Sayyaf are still holding 12 foreigners and four Filipinos that they had kidnapped for ransom.
Tan said Yee was rescued around 7 a.m. at a pier in Indanan town.
He said the rescue operation was the result of the continuing intelligence build-up immediately after the military received information on the kidnappers’ plan to hand over Yee to the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu.
He said Yee was brought to a hospital for medical checkup before her debriefing, and that she would be turned over to her family afterwards.
