THE Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has released the 10-year-old boy its members seized on August 16 in Sulu province, the police said Wednesday, November 14.
The Sulu Provincial Police Office identified the freed victim as Zaide Khan “Azziz” Perian Pasil, son of Zaide Ahmad Pasil, chief of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Sulu.
The police said the boy was turned over to his father and uncle around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday in an undisclosed area in Patikul town.
The release of the boy came following the successful negotiations spearheaded by a certain Faizal, the neighbor of the Pasil family, said the police.
The young Pasil, a Grade 5 pupil of the Notre Dame of Jolo Elementary School, was seized by six motorcycle-riding gunmen on August 16 near a snack house in San Raymundo village, Jolo, Sulu.
He was with his elder sister, Fatima Zaima, 13, aboard a family-owned jeep driven by Aldasir Tallow, on the way to school when accosted and seized by the gunmen.
The gunmen, believed to be Abu Sayyaf bandits, left Pasil’s sister and the driver unharmed. The bandits sped off toward Latih village, Patikul. (SunStar Philippines)