Task Force chief: ASG-NPA kidnap threat can not be discounted

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 21): Task Force chief: ASG-NPA kidnap threat can not be discounted

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) may be in contact with the New People’s Army (NPA) to pursue their mission to kidnap prominent personalities in the Visayas, said Navy Capt. Jorge Ibarra, Task Force Deter commander based in Dumaguete City.

Capt. Ibarra on Friday said he did not discount the possibility of a situation where NPA rebels would carry out the kidnapping and then sell their victims to the ASG, who in turn would demand millions of pesos in ransom money from families of their victims.

Ibarra said he was hoping the situation would not reach this point while the task force was validating and processing intelligence information about sightings of armed individuals in parts of Sta. Catalina.

Gov. Roel Degamo was told the armed individuals sighted in Fatima and Omanod, Sta. Catalina town were NPA rebels who fled Bohol after the encounter and on their way to Negros Occidental through Payaw-payawan.

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