Late in the afternoon on April 29th, 2011 Nelson Lim told his son to man the fort as he and his wife decided to leave a bit early on their long walk home. The "fort," Times Hardware, in Jolo City's bustling downtown area is one of several hardware businesses in the city owned by Tsinoy, as Filipinos of Chinese descent are commonly known. After the Battle of 1974 during the MNLF Insurgency most Tsinoy had abandoned Jolo City turning a vibrant storied city into a shell of its former self. The city's economy never recovered and with each passing year more and more Tsinoy moved away, unwilling to shoulder the risk posed by the next generation of insurgents, ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group and other lawless elements. Kidnapping had become an epidemic over the last decade and no single group was targetted more than the Tsinoy.
As Mr.Lim and his wife left their store they were both looking forward to a relaxing evening at home. The next morning, Saturday, was the couples' turn at the family owned resturant Plaza Panciteria on Jolo City's Serantes Street. One of the island's oldest and most popular eateries it had been founded by Mr. Lim's late father in law. Upon his death shares in it were distributed amongst the extended family. Each share holder took a turn at managing its day to day operation. Still, th
at was tomorrow and for now the couple busied themselves with the long walk home to Barangay Bus Bus.
Concerned family members had tried to convince the elderly couple to ride to and from their downtown store but Mr.Lim would hear nothing of it. At the very least he argued, the walk provided him with a way in which to maintain the trim physique he took pride in. As for safety concerns, he maintained that noone would bother with such an old man. After all he reasoned, he had managed to survive nearly 70 years in Jolo without making a single enemy, no mean feat given local mores.
As the two walked through Barangay Bus Bus they failed to notice a navy blue Mitsubishi L300 van that had begun tailing them at a distance. Nearing their home in the barangay's Sitio Lambayong the van increased its speed to close the distance and just as the couple neared the front gate of their residential compound the van skidded to a stop beside them. Four ASG guerillas:
1) Asman Sawadjaan
2) Mudzrimar Sawadjaan
3) Jihad Naymel
4) sub-Kumander Ninok Sappari
jumped out of the van waving 45 caliber pistols and physically picked Mr.Lim up off the ground before depositing him in the rear of the van. Ignoring Lim's hysterical wife the van then took off at a high rate of speed. As the kidnapping had taken place at 530PM on one of the barangay's most travelled streets more than one bystander had reported it to authorities. The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines scrambled MBLT-5, or Marine Battalion Landing Team #5 to the municipality of Patikul, the predicted destination of the kidnappers.
Jolo City's CPO, or City Police Office followed standard protocol and notified the Sulu PPO, or Police Provincial Office which in turn deployed an investigatory team to interview Mrs.Lim. In the interim though Mrs. Lim had callen her eldest son who as he rushed to the family home made sure that his mother would in no way co-operate with the authorities. As bad as a kidnapping can be, notifying the authorities only makes it so many times worse. If by some chance the police or military do find out about the kidnapping, totally ignoring them is the only sensible path.
MBLT-5 began scouring the town of Patikul with the assumption being that the victim had been abducted by one of two ASG factions, both operating within the borders of that municipality. Indeed the L300 van was found in that town's Barangay Sandah, having been abandoned. Quickly running a check on the vehicle it was found to be registered to a certain Laja Bagatsing. As in all other similar cases the van had been reported stolen shortly before the kidnapping although the owner is related to an ASG guerilla. After finding themselves unable to track the occupants of the van in the dark the Marines returned to their base at Camp Bautista. Meanwhile, Mr.Lim's kidnappers were joined by three other ASG guerillas who began marching their blindfolded victim uphill.
Eventually entering Barangay Tanum the group stopped for the night at the home of a fellow ASG guerilla. Early the next morning, before the sun appeared in the sky, the Abu Sayyaf guerillas led the still blindfolded Lim up country into that barangay's outermost sitio, Makayah, the last settlement before Mount Dahu. Resting a bit, they then continued upland and onto the slopes of the Abu Sayyaf controlled Mount Dahu. It was at various points on the mountain that Nelson Lim would spend the next three months, waiting and hoping to see his family again.
With the authorities out of the way the Lim family then went about negotiating a reasonable ransom. The man behind the kidnapping, sub-Kumander Jurim Hussin initially demanded P5 Million ($105,000) but by the end of June that figure had dropped to P3 Million ($62,000). Not satisfied with that amount the Lim family further whittled down the figure to P1.5 Million ($30,500) by mid-July. When, by July 19th they had failed to gain ground on a further reduction the family agreed to pay that amount and so final arrangements were made.
On Wednesday, July 20th the Lim family representative handed the cash to a middleman who relayed the sum, less his 10% commission, to sub-Kumander Hussin's representative. At 1PM the next afternoon, July 21st Nelson Lim was blindfolded and taken downhill off of the mountain, to a home in Patikul's Barangay Tanum where he was ordered to wash up and ready himself for release. By 9PM Mr.Lim was standing in Barangay Sandah waiting for Vice Mayor of Jolo City, Edsir "Eddie" Que Tan who finally arrived at 945PM to take custody of him and deliver Mr.Lim to his family.
No comments:
Post a Comment