Thursday, August 17, 2006
Basilan school principal shot dead
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Unidentified gunmen killed a school principal in a broad daylight attack in Basilan island in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said Joselito Versoza was on his way to school Tuesday when two motorcycle-riding gunmen opened fire on him near the village of Parang Basak in Lamitan town. He was killed instantly.
The gunmen escaped after the killing, but troops were tracking down the assailants, said Brigadier General Raymundo Ferrer, commander of military forces on the island, south of Zamboanga City. "We still don't know who were behind the killing or the motive of the attack. Authorities are still investigating the killing," he said.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but the island is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf group tied to the Jemaah Islamiya terror network. Versoza was the principal of the Lamitan National High School.
Security forces were also tracing suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf believed behind the kidnapping of 19-year-old Grace Gonzales, whose father--Dr. Eldigario Gonzales--is the president of the Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City.
The girl was kidnapped August 1 in Zamboanga City and brought to Basilan by gunmen allied with the Abu Sayyaf. The kidnappers asked a still unspecified amount of ransom in exchange for the girl.
Aside from Gonzales, a young daughter of a senior police official was also kidnapped in Zamboanga City and until now is being held captive. But officials were silent on who was holding the girl.
Authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf group for several high profiles kidnapping of foreigners and wealthy Filipinos in Zamboanga City. The group had previously kidnapped a German canning executive, two Belgians, a Taiwanese matriarch, and Filipino-Chinese traders in Zamboanga City. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(August 17, 2006 issue)
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