ZAMBOANGA CITY—Combined military and police forces foiled a kidnap attempt after they captured the alleged right-hand man of the leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group based in Basilan.

Senior Supt. Lurimer Detran, Zamboanga City police chief, said the suspect was captured following a 15-minute firefight at sea between the government forces and the kidnappers near Tigtabon Island, 8.5 kilometers east of mainland Zamboanga City.

Detran identified the captured suspected kidnapper as Reynante Bacalso, the right-hand man of kidnap-for-ransom-group leader Usman Lidjal, an alleged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander who has ties with the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Lidjal’s group is based in Marang-Marang, Tuburan, Basilan.

Detran said the police have launched a manhunt for two of Lidjal’s followers who were wounded during the firefight.

“Pinaghahanap pa namin sila,” Detran said.

Bacalso was presented to reporters by the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, at Laong Laan Hall of the Wesmincom headquarters in Camp Don Basilio Navarro.

Allaga said Sunday’s firefight broke out when the troops intercepted Bacalso, along with some other members of the kidnapping group near the island-barangay of Tigtabon, while the group was allegedly on the way to stage another kidnapping in this city.

The group was allegedly targeting a businesswoman engaged in the purified water business and at the same time a fashion designer.

Officials did not disclose how policemen and soldiers managed to intercept Bacalso and his companions but said there was continuous intelligence monitoring in and around this city.

Bacalso allegedly led the kidnapping of businessman Innocente Bautista, 58, on May 27 in this city.

Bautista, the manager of Western Mindanao Corp. that distributes Mead Johnsons and Zafi products, was seized shortly after 6:00 p.m. from his office on Cabato Road, barangay Tetuan.

The kidnappers hid Bautista in the hinterlands of Maluso, Basilan, and freed the victim on the evening of June 9 following alleged payment of P10 million ransom.

The police learned that Bacalso was a former employee of Bautista.

‘GMA firm on stepping down in 2010’

PALACE officials on Wednesday lamented the knee-jerk reaction provoked by the President’s support for a Senate bill to shift to a federal form of government among the signatories to the measure, and assured the people that President Arroyo has no ill designs to twist it to extend her stay in power.

ARMM polls achieve many firsts in RP poll history

AFTER three months of preparation and less than two days of vote counting, the automated election in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is finally over.

Failed transmissions raise doubts on efficiency of poll automation

DAVAO CITY—In the test of automated elections at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 1996, the quality of paper and its exposure to the elements was blamed in the failure of the machines to count all the election returns.

Normalcy returns as Moro rebs abandon N. Cotabato villages

MARAUDING Moro fighters have left all the barangays that they have occupied in North Cotabato, after failing to stand the heat of the intense four-day government offensive, both the military and the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) confirmed on Wednesday.

Asean sticks to nonintervention in affairs of member-countries

FOREIGN ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members on Wednesday said that although the proposed Asean Charter creates a human-rights body that will handle cases of atrocities committed against nationals of its members, the principle of nonintervention on the affairs of member-countries would still prevail.

Military, police foil kidnapping with capture of gang leader

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Combined military and police forces foiled a kidnap attempt after they captured the alleged right-hand man of the leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group based in Basilan.

GSIS asks Court to void CA ruling on case involving Meralco polls

THE Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to declare null and void the July 23 controversial decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) which nullified the cease and-desist order (CDO) and the show cause order (SCO) issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enjoining the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from validating the proxy votes of the Lopez bloc during its stockholders’ meeting on May 27.