ZAMBOANGA CITY—Kidnappers believed to be Abu Sayyaf bandits have freed a a Filipino-American woman who was kidnapped two months and 13 days ago along with her son and a relative in this city. Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, who chairs the local Crisis Management Committee (CMC), said the victim, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, 42, was freed at about 10:45 p.m. on Sunday in sitio Suba Kampong, barangay Townsite, Maluso, Basilan.
Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman, said Lunsmann was brought by motorized banca by an unidentified man wearing a ski mask to the port of Maluso, “and let the victim walk toward Maluso proper.”
She was met by Maluso town policemen who in turn handed her over to the Special Operations Task Force-Basilan (SOTF-B), headed by Col. Alexander Macario.
Lunsmann, her son Kevin Erick, 14, and cousin Romnick Jakaria, 19, were kidnapped by 14 gunmen at about 3 a.m. on July 19 in Tigtabon Island, an island village 8.5 kilometers east of this city’s downtown.
Lobregat, who met Lunsmann when she arrived shortly before 3 a.m. on Monday at Camp Basilio Navarro in this city, said she was released following series of negotiations between her German husband, Hiko, who is based in Virginia, United States.
“The communication between the kidnappers and her husband has been going on for quite sometime,” Lobregat disclosed.
“There was nothing of that sort that was discussed during our brief conversation,” Lobregat said when asked about payment of ransom.
“If there is ransom, it was not paid by the Philippine government nor by the US government,” Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said.
Earlier reports said the kidnappers have demanded $10 million for the release of the victims but authorities refused to confirm the report.
Robredo said the US government did not participate in the negotiations that resulted in Lunsmann’s release.
Lunsmann was fetched by a helicopter in Basilan and was taken to Camp Basilio Navarro, Wesmincom headquarters, where the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines is also located.
Lobregat earlier said Lunsmann was to be released together with her 14-year-old son Kevin but the kidnappers later changed their decision.
Lunsmann did not issue any statement surrounding her release but allowed a few minutes of photo opportunity at the city hall’s conference room after a closed-door meeting with Robredo, Lobregat and other officials at the mayor’s office.
Lunsmann, a veterinarian, and her son were on vacation when they were seized by the kidnappers on Tigtabon Island.
They arrived here on June 29 and were scheduled to fly back to Manila on July 13 on their way back to the United States.
Jackaria visited the Lunsmanns a day before the incident.
Lunsmann, who was adopted at the age of nine by a German couple who raised her in America, is a native of Pangapuyan, an island-barangay near Tigtabon.
(With Zaff Solmerin)
