Zamboanga City mayor says US tourists’ kidnappers lie low

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Gunmen holding two US tourists hostage in the Philippines have failed to contact relatives or the authorities, two days after the abduction, a local official said Thursday.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, who heads a government task force on the hostage crisis, rejected reports that the unidentified gunmen had issued a ransom demand.

“There is no contact, and there is no demand,” Lobregat told a news conference.

“The (reported ransom) demand is completely untrue.”

Police said gunmen snatched Gerfa Lunsmann, her 14-year-old son, Kevin, and her Filipino teenage nephew on Tuesday at a nearby island resort.

The woman was born in the area but left in her childhood for adoption in the United States, where she later married a US-based German man, local police have said.

The resort is a mere 20 kilometers from the coast of Basilan island, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, a small Islamic extremist group blamed for previous abductions of foreigners, as well as deadly bombings.

Apart from the militants, the near-lawless region also hosts Muslim separatist guerrillas, as well as simple bandits and pirates.

Kidnapping of locals and foreigners for ransom occurs with alarming frequency in the area.

Lobregat said authorities had not yet taken any firm action to find the latest kidnap victims.

“We have not launched any police operation yet, since we do not have any idea as to where the hostages are held,” Lobregat said.

Meanwhile, kidnappers have freed one of three Filipino fishing boat crew members abducted off the southern island of Jolo in March, said Felicisimo Khu, the region’s police chief.

“Jonald (Ocsimar) was released on July 12 after his family negotiated for his release,” Khu told reporters.

The kidnappers apparently collected cash for the victim’s “board and lodging”, he said, using a local euphemism for ransom.