by Franklin P. Gumapon
DIPOLOG CITY, April 3 (PIA) - - Search and rescue operations have been going on for Salug town mayor Jeffrey Tan Lim., 37, who was abducted last night by 10 unidentified armed men at the bus terminal of said municipality.
Lim and his wife were taking supper in an eatery within the bus terminal compound at around 7 p.m. last night when a yellow van suddenly arrived. A passenger wearing camouflage green pants and T-shirt with “PULIS” marking alighted from the vehicle and was looking for the mayor to purportedly serve a warrant of arrest. Then, another four also disembarked from the van, forcibly took the mayor into the vehicle and pulled out.
Witnesses said the getaway vehicle headed toward Barangay Caracol, a coastal village going north.
Police men pursuing the abductors found the getaway vehicle already burned and abandoned at Barangay Caracol where the perpetrators escaped aboard two white pump boats.
Police and military personnel belonging to the Municipal Police Station, Regional Police Safety Battalion (RPSB)-1st Mobile Group, Police Public Safety Company (PPSC) and 10th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (PA) are presently conducting manhunt operations to rescue the victim.
Mayor Lim was the second victim of kidnapping in the province five months after the abduction of businessman Franc Oliver Lim at his poultry farm in Gulayon, Dipolog City on October 27, 2011. The poultry magnate was released last February 22 in Pagadian City.
The town chief’s abduction happened a few hours after the turnover of command of the Zamboanga del Norte Police Provincial Office (ZNPPO) from P/SSupt. Ulpiano Collado Lopez, who just retired from the service, to P/SSupt. Ramon Martinez Ochotorena. (FPG/PIA-Zamboanga del Norte)