‘Land of Bad’

We are saddened by the reported kidnapping of an American national in a coastal village in Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte last week. The kidnap victim, 26-year-old Elliot Onil Eastman, is a vlogger in his home state in Vermont who came to our country and married a Filipina five months ago. Eastman was abducted by heavily armed masked men last Thursday night from his in-laws’ residence in Sitio Tungawan, Barangay Poblacion.

The victim was shot in his leg while attempting to evade his abductors as witnessed by his wife Karisa Hairin. The gunmen allegedly identified themselves as and claimed to be “operatives.”

The Police Regional Office (PRO) IX have reportedly coordinated with their counterparts in the PRO Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-BARMM) in the ongoing tracking operation for the safe recovery of the victim at the soonest possible time.

While it may be described as an isolated kidnap incident, it is another black mark on our country’s image abroad.

A team of agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States reportedly flew to Zamboanga to check on the ongoing search and rescue operations for Eastman, according to Police Lt. Col. Helen Galvez, PRO IX spokesperson.

“There is no (ransom) demand, no calls and contact to the family of the victim in the US based on the confirmation of the FBI to our Police Provincial director Col. (Rainer) Diaz in the incident site,” Galvez disclosed. “Since the abduction took place, there is no proof of life yet of the victim as of now,” Galvez added. Since this is still a live kidnapping case, no further details could be given to media.

As this developed, the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 153 convicted 17 Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom bandits for 21 counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom and sentenced each of them to up to 40 years of imprisonment for each count.

They abducted at gunpoint 21 individuals from a diving resort in Sipadan Island in Malaysia in April 2000. The victims were then taken by boat to Talipao, Sulu and held captive in Jolo, Sulu. They demanded ransom money from the hostages’ families and from the government. The ruling was