Police in the Philippines said Friday they have launched a search after gunmen reportedly kidnapped a US citizen who was shot in the leg when he tried to resist before being chased away by speedboat from a southern coastal town.
If it is confirmed to be a kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems plaguing the southern Philippines, home to a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic country.
Police in the city of Sibuco in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte attempted to pursue the suspected kidnappers and their victim, whom they identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, of Vermont, after the reported kidnapping on Thursday evening.
Philippine National Police Regional Office 9 via AP
“We confirm that there was a report of the alleged kidnapping of a US citizen,” regional police said in a statement. “We would like to assure the public, and especially the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the safe recovery of the victim.”
Police asked the public to immediately provide any information that could assist an ongoing investigation into the reported kidnapping.
Two police reports seen by The Associated Press stated that a Sibuco resident, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, reported to police that four men in black clothing, armed with M16 rifles and introducing themselves as police officers, forcibly took Eastman, who tried to escape.
One of the gunmen shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him into a speedboat and then fled by sea further south to Basilan or Sulu provinces, police reports said.
Police officers gave chase but were unable to find the gunmen and Eastman and alerted other police and Philippine Navy units in the region, the reports said.
Philippine authorities did not immediately provide background information on Eastman, but a person with a similar name posted photos and videos of himself on Facebook saying he married a Muslim woman in Sibuco.
“Based on the initial profile given to us, he (Eastman) is married to a local resident. He was there for about five months,” regional police spokeswoman Lt. Col. Helen Galvez told Agence France-Presse.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to questions about the reported kidnapping.
The southern Philippines has abundant resources but has long been crippled by abject poverty and a slew of insurgents and bandits.
A 2014 peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest of several Islamist separatist groups, has significantly eased widespread fighting in the south. Relentless military offensives over the years have weakened smaller armed groups, such as the notoriously violent Abu Sayyaf group, significantly reducing the number of kidnappings, bombings and other attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf group, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the Philippines, is an offshoot of decades of Islamic separatist unrest in the south and has committed mass kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings more than two decades ago . the southern region.
They targeted American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries, most of whom were released after ransoms were paid. Several were killed, including an American who was beheaded in the island province of Basilan and an American missionary who was killed when Philippine army troops tried to rescue him and his wife in a rainforest in the town of Sirawai, near Sibuco, in 2002.
The Philippines will hold midterm elections next year for more than 18,000 local, national and congressional posts, mainly provincial mayors and governors. In the traditionally volatile south, crimes including kidnappings and extortion have historically increased as rogue politicians try to raise money to fuel their campaigns. However, authorities say only a few isolated incidents have been reported in recent years.
