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Three crewmembers of a Cebu-based tugboat were abducted in the high seas of Siocon Bay in Siocon town, Zamboanga del Norte, on Saturday night.
The kidnappers, however, had yet to make contact with the management of Cebu-based Cebu Barge and Tug Inc., owner of MT Marinero.
But the police said the armed men had told the other crew members of the vessel that boat captain Felipe Miranda, chief mate Cecilio Layasan and chief engineer Radsie Magtanong would be brought to the town proper and contact the owner.
Caesar Fernandez, operations manager of Cebu Barge and Tug Inc., told CEBU DAILY NEWS yesterday that they were still waiting for the kidnappers to communicate with them.
Fernandez said some of those abducted were from Cebu while the others are from Negros. He, however, could not identify who among them were from Cebu or Negros.
MT Tugboat Marinero and the barge Salvmar II had dropped anchor in the waters off Siocon Boy when armed men boarded and took Miranda, Layasan and Magtanong, said Commodore Rodolfo Isorena, Chief of the Philippine Coast Guard in Western Mindanao.
The armed men, who were on board three pump boats, forcibly boarded MT Marinero past 11 p.m. on Saturday, said provincial police director Chief Supt. Angelo Sunglao.
?According to one of the hostage-takers, they will bring the hostages to Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and will contact the owner of the boat,? said Major General Ben Dolorfino, Western Mindanao Command chief, quoting one of the remaining crew members.
Dolorfino said the armed men also took the vessel?s communication facilities like the GPS reader and handheld radios.
The tugboat was pulling the barge from Makar wharf and was on its way to Dapitan City when they dropped anchor due to bad weather some 2.6 nautical miles from Siocon town, a boat personnel, Norman Gonzago, told Dolorfino.
Low pressure area was spotted 160 km east of Mindanao, which triggered rains and rough seas in portions of the Visayas and Mindanao.
According to the weather advisory from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), moderate to strong winds blowing from the Northeast would prevail over Luzon, the Visayas and Eastern Mindanao while the coastal waters along these areas would be moderate to rough.
In a phone interview yesterday, Fernandez said they were still waiting for developments of the incident. But their priority remained to be the safety of the rest of the crew members who were still in the vessel.
?Our priority as of now is to ensure the security of our crew,? Fernandez said.
He said they had also contacted the family of those abducted but he chose not to issue additional information because they were still ironing out their plans.
?We are still in the process of working out the situation,? he said.
Earlier, Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) regional director for Western Mindanao Basiruddin Adil said the tugboat has been registered in Cebu City and it is owned and operated by Visayas Sealink.
Adil said the three abducted officials might be from Cebu.
Martin Mardon, Marina in Central Visayas safety engineer, confirmed that MT Marinero is based in Cebu City.
Mardon however could not give a background of the abducted crew members.
?We can only confirm that the ship is from Cebu City. But we could not confirm whether or not the three abducted crew members are Cebuanos,? said Mardon.
He added he learned about the kidnapping from a news website over the Internet.
Police and the Philippine Coast Guard have launched operations to pursue the suspects and rescue the hostages.
The Coast Guard has also alerted other boats to take precautionary measures and report to authorities any suspicious movement of vessels.
The abduction of the three crew members was the latest in a series of kidnappings that happened in Mindanao in past months. Among these abductions were Irish priest Michael Sinnott, principal Gabriel Canizares, and employees of a plywood firm.
Sinnott was released on Nov. 12, the same day that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Manila for a state visit.
But Canizares was not as lucky. He was beheaded and his head was left at a gas station. /Inquirer and ABS-CBNnews.com with reports from Reporters Marian Z. Codilla and Ador Vincent S. Mayol
