Pangapuyan is really just a cluster of mangroves sitting off of Sacol Island, itself a farflung part of Zamboanga City. Folks living in the tiny barangay lead incredibly simple lives. As Sama (Samal) Tribesmen their lives are entwined with the seas, living much as the Sama have since time immemorial. In 1980 a 9 year old girl named Jerpa Usman suddenly got a chance for much different life. An American couple gave little Jerpa's family the chance to hope for more. They offered to bring the girl to the United States where she could gain an education and perhaps, even better the lives of her family in Zamboanga.
Moving to America must have been an extreme shock for the young girl but by all accounts she handled it very well and soon adjusted to life as an American girl. Formally adopted by the Yeatts, Jerpa changed her first name to the phonetically spelled "Gerfa," or Gerfa Yeatts. Eventually Ms.Yeatts married a fellow immigrant to America, Hiko Lunsmann, a man she had met at her job in hospital administration. Together the couple bought a suburban tract home in Campbell County Virginia's Willis Drive, just outside the small city of Lynchburg. Though both were devoted to their careers at Lynchburg's Central Health, a healthcare corporation that manages a chain of hospitals, they still found time to make a family. In 1997 their son Kevin Eric was born.
Unlike most adoptees Ms.Lunsmann retained close ties to her large family in Mindanao. On vacations the Lunsmanns would visit, though her husband Hiko tried to limit his own trips out of safety concerns for the rest of the family, as well as for himself. A European appearance endangers everyone around a person and so he felt that while Gerfa should maintain close family ties with her loved ones, it was better for everyone if she travelled to Mindanao without him. Eventually the family bought land on another small outlying islet in the city, Tigtabon. Buying three beachfront lots on Tigtabon Island they had a vacation home built for themselves and built two other, larger homes for Gerfa's extended family. Around the three adjoining properties they had a large concrete wall for security, though the rear of the compound was opened, so that the beach behind the homes was the only insecure approach to the family's settlement.
It was that compound in Barangay Tigtabon that Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and her 14 year old son Kevin Eric visited on June 29th, 2011 for a two week beachfront vacation with her family. As in past visits, clan members kept watch, albeit without anything more powerful than 45 caliber pistols, patrolling around the compound at all hours. On Tuesday, July 12th, at 330AM, just hours before the 41 year old woman and her son were scheduled to depart for Manila and their flight home to America, two motorboats moored offshore and 12 BIAF guerillas (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, armed wing of the MILF) of the 113 Base Command, under Kumander Waning Abdusalam, waded ashore armed with M16s and M14s. The family members who had vowed to remain vigilant had gone to sleep, self-assured that their family members would be safe in their last few hours at the compound. Therefore the BIAF guerillas were able to infiltrate the compound without firing a shot.
Bypassing the other structures the gunmen made a beeline for the Lunsmann's vacation home where they loudly kicked in the door. Shouting commands they dragged the terrified woman, her shocked teenaged son and a 19 year old nephew, Romnick Jakaria, and forced them out into the cool night air. Frog marching the trio to the water and out into the surf, the. BIAF then secured them aboard the two idling motorboats. By now there were at least 15 people standing on the beach, watching the kidnapping transpire, but luckily noone interfered as the two boats pushed off, revving their inboard engines as they set a course for nearby Basilan Island.
Arriving in Basilan the BIAF guerillas were met by comrades from the island's 114 Base Command who took custody of the three captives and delivered them to a 114 Base Command compound in the municipality of Tuburan. As day broke Romnick's distraught mother, Alma Jakaria, received a series of miscalls on her cellphone from an unfamiliar number. Dialing back frantically she heard heavy breathing before someone in the background shouted in Sama, "Go to sleep!" After that all her calls were met with that same heavy breathing. Ms.Jakaria is especially distraught because she had pushed her son Romnick to come to Tigtabon with her. When she was leaving their home on the island of Malamawi, off of Basilan's capital, Isabela City, Romnick had argued that he had previously made plans with his friends. Now he was being held in Tuburan.
Late in the afternoon, that same day, July 12th, Director General of the PNP, or Philippine National Police, Rene Bacalzo arrived in Zamboanga City. He is personally directing the initial stages of the PNP's response. It is amazing that he would do so given the fact that he doesn't do a thing concerning the many dozens of Filipinos who are victimised by KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, each year. An American life seems to be worth so much more than a Filipino life and that is sad, though not at all suprising considering the money ponied up by the Americans.
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