In my recent "Kidnap for Ransom for the Third Quarter, Part X" entry I discussed the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, of Luisita "Itang" Galvez. Readers may recall that Ms.Galvez, a 34 year old single mother of two teenaged daughters had gone south to work as an OFW, or Overseas Foreign Worker as Filipinos working abroad are known, landing work in Malaysia's Sabah State on Borneo. Leaving the Philippines in 1996 at age 18 she sent most of her earnings home and managed to bring each of her eight siblings to Sabah and although her two daughters Sasha and Sheryn remained on Mindanao, Luisita considered Sabah her adipted home.
Then, in 2006, while working on Sandakan Island, north of the Bornean mainland, she met Raymond George Morrison, a Scotsman, now 51 years old, who had been working as a contract Operations Manager on one of the many offshore oil rigs dotting the Sulu Sea in the waters around Sabah. She had become a resort housekeeper and Mr.Morrison became a frequent guest where the two met. Having moved from Aberdeen in his native Scotland after his marriage went sour, until meeting Luisita he hadn't really considered giving romance another glance. Ms.Galvez changed all that.
Eventually, in 2010, after Ms.Galvez's immigration status in Malaysia lapsed the couple decided that it would be best if Luisita returned to Mindanao and Raymond would join her as soon as his current contract ended. Flying into Zamboanga City Airport she moved back to her hometown of Ipil, the capital of Zamboanga Sibugay Province. There, in between Mr.Morrison's visits to Mindanao the couple purchased a residential lot in the Nesicorom subdivision located in Ipil's Barangay Magadup. On the property, lot #9, they proceeded to start construction of a palatial two story home in an area where even three roomed cinderblock homes are considered "rich." It turns out that that dream house of Luisita's that soon attracted quite a lot of attention, some of it quite negative. In addition Mr.Morrison bought a second lot in an outlying area where he started a commercial sawmill catering to the local logging industry.
Eventually Ms.Galvez herself opened a business in Ipil's Barangay Poblacion. Located on Lapu Lapu Street, the RL, as in Ramond and Luisita, Salon and Spa also managed to create quite a stir in the lowkey provincial town. Gossip got to the point where Ipil's Mayor Eldwin Alibudtan personally warned Luisita that she ought to consider toning down her lifestyle quite abit and begin thinking in terms of her own personal safety a lot more. Though the municipality hasn't been targeted for some time now it is infamous as the site of a well planned joint ASG, or Abu Sayyaf Group and BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (as the MILF's armed wing is known) attack involving at least 500 very well armed guerillas. For four hours in the mid-1990s the Abu Sayyaf, along with the 113 and 114 Base Commands of the BIAF, controlled the provincial capital. The ASG and the BIAF's 113 and 114 Base Commands are all prime movers and shakers in the region's highly lucrative KFR industry.
As if prophecy, Mayor Budtan's warning hung heavy on the minds of many when, on Sunday, September 4th, 2011 three guerillas from the BIAF 113 Base Command dragged Luisita Galvez out of her salon slash spa in the middle of Ipil's downtown shopping district at just past 6 in the evening. Pushing their shaken captive brusquely into an idling minivan the captors sped off and into incognito. Ms.Galvez was then taken by boat to the town of Sultan Naga Dimaporo in Lanao del Norte Province, the municipality in which the 113 Base Command has its main camp.
Not long afterward, with a heavy military response to the abduction, the BIAF got spooked and transported her to Basilan Province, an island to the south of the Zamboanga Peninsula. There Ms.Galvez was sold to the ASG sub-faction led by sub-Kumander Radzmer Temmeng Jannatul. Jannatul delegated Ms.Galvez's custody to an underling, sub-Kumander Abdullah Julhaiber "Abu Kik" Alamsirulakaz. Abu Kik transported Ms.Galvez to an ASG encampment in the municipality of Sumisip's Barangay Baiwas.
On Monday, September 19th, 2011, three platoons (roughly 90 men) from the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines' Scout Rangers Battalion deployed to Sumisip in response to reported movements of ASG through the town. Ending up in Barangay Baiwas at 9AM the detachment crossed into its Sito Bohe Peyat, the soldiers stumbled into the middle of the aforementioned Abu Sayyaf encampment. A fierce firefight immediately broke out and before it ended at just past 10AM three ASG guerillas known only by their noms de guerre:
1) Abu Sa'id
2) Abdul Aziz
3) Mukim
had been killed. In addition, the AFP is claiming that 7 ASG guerillas were wounded despite none being captured. The AFP also noted that one Scout Ranger:
1) Private First Class Arjae de Ramos
had been wounded as well. After the ASG withdrew upcountry from the camp the soldiers discovered that the firefight had also inadvertantly caused kidnap victim Luisita Galvez to be shot in both of her legs although the wounds were not life threatening. Ironically this very same ASG camp has been "captured" no less than four times since March of 2010. One would imagine that one of these days the AFP would manage to block the Abu Sayyaf from re-capturing their camp but of course this is the Mindanao we are discussing.
Ms.Galvez was evacuated and taken to Scout Ranger Battalion Headquarters in Basilan and given a medical examination before being transported to Zamboanga City's Camp Navarro where a happy Mr.Morrison gave her a teary eyed welcome at WESMINCOM (Western Mindanao Command) Headquarters. In the end Ms.Galvez spent just over two weeks in the custody of her abductors and unlike most KFR victims re-gained her freedom without having had a single centavo change hands.
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