Armed group abducts American in Zamboanga del Norte

ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE, Philippines – Gunmen abducted an American near a military outpost in Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte, late Thursday night, October 17.

Police-Zamboanga Peninsula Director Brigadier General Bowenn Joey Masauding said the American, Elliot Onil Eastman from Hinesborg, Vermont, United States, was snatched around 11 pm in Sitio Tungawan, Barangay Poblacion, by four men armed with M16 rifles.

Sibuco police chief Joseph Villarino said Eastman, a content creator, was dragged from his wife’s house by the gunmen who were all dressed in black.

He said they shot Eastman in the leg when he resisted, forcing him into a white boat. 

The gunmen fled toward the high seas, with authorities suspecting they were heading toward Sulu or Basilan.

The way Eastman was abducted, barely 200 meters from a Marine detachment, raised suspicions that it was the handiwork of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf.

Earlier, Villarino said he and his officers, escorted by Marines and fighters from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), went to Barangay Lala, about seven kilometers from the town center, after receiving reports of armed men on a pump boat.

“We did not find the armed men, but a few minutes after returning to our station, we received a report about the kidnapping at 11 o’clock in the evening,” Villarino said.

The abduction happened just as people in Sibuco, Sirawai, Siocon, and Baliguian towns in Zamboanga del Norte thought the days of kidnapping in their area were over.

“We thought we were already free of kidnappings for ransom. For the past seven years, we have been trying to erase the stigma that our place, the province, or even the entire Zamboanga Peninsula is a haven for kidnappers and other lawlessness. But then this happened,” former mayor Norbideiri Edding told Rappler on Friday, October 18.

A witness, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, told authorities that the suspects presented themselves as policemen. They wore face masks while escaping with the wounded victim.

Villarino said he and his policemen, together with the Marines and the Army, pursued the kidnappers but were hindered by a lack of seacraft.

Edding said Eastman came to the Philippines to marry a woman from Zamboanga City, who later turned out to be a scammer. The victim lost a lot of money to the scammer but then met the woman from Sibuco, whom he married about five months ago.

Barangay Poblacion chairman Merjan Caril said Eastman converted to Islam and lived in his wife’s house in a depressed area in Sibuco, often seen roaming the town.

The American was apparently facing financial difficulties, but Edding said kidnappers have always seen foreigners as opportunities to make money.

The former mayor said the incident hurt efforts by provincial and regional officials to rid the area of its reputation for lawlessness.

“I think our authorities are just too complacent. This is a wake-up call that we’re not yet fully free from this kind of atrocity,” Edding said. – Rappler.com