ZAMBOANGA, Philippines: A Filipino road engineer is now free two weeks after being kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf terrorists extremists in the southern Philippines.
Philippine officials gave differing accounts of Virgilio Fernandez's return to freedom. Abu Sayyaf terrorists militants seized Fernandez June 3 in Basilan's Lamitan city, where he was overseeing a road project.
| Roads lead to independent thinking, everybody knows that. Abu Sayyaf's bully boys had no choice in the matter. |
Police Chief Inspector Edwin Placio says government militiamen stumbled onto Fernandez near a remote village on Basilan Island's Al Barka township and turned him over to police. The army, however, says its troops rescued Fernandez from his terrorist captors in a daring mission that did not spark any gunbattle.
Placio says the victim is fine and has been turned over to his family. |