Abducted Maguindanao rice trader freed

From Rappler (Jun 18): Abducted Maguindanao rice trader freed

A rice trader kidnapped more than a month ago was freed by his captors in Maguindanao, a military official said Tuesday, June 18.

The victim, Kenneth Cabrera, 25, was fetched by his family and local officials near a state-owned university in Datu Odin Sinsuat town at around 5 pm on Monday, June 17.

Cabrera is the son of a former village official in the town of Ampatuan, also in Maguindanao.

Regional military spokesman Col Dickson Hermoso said the victim was released without ransom money.

He said Moro rebels engaged in peace talks with the government, local leaders, and Muslim religious leaders intervened on Cabrera’s behalf.

On May 14, Cabrera was tending to the family’s rice and corn trading shop in Barangay Kauran in Ampatuan when armed men seized him.

The perpetrators dragged the victim to a getaway car parked a few meters away from the store.

Authorities blamed the kidnapping on members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a breakaway group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The group denied it had a hand in the abduction.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/31591-abducted-maguindanaoo-rice-trader-freed