NBI, PNP join forces to hunt Yusoph’s abductors

07/25/2010

Despite the recent release of the abducted son of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Elias Yusoph, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Magtanggol Gatdula said law enforcers will continue to go after the perpetrators of the kidnapping.

Gatdula said the NBI and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are set to conduct a joint investigation into the kidnapping of 22-year-old Nuraldin Yusoph, who was freed last July 19 to a mediator in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental province after being held for almost a month.

Yusoph was abducted by identified armed men on June 22 just after he came out of a mosque in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur province for prayers.

Gatdula said the NBI and the PNP will tandem in investigating the case and prosecuting the suspects in the crime.

“This is a joint conduct of investigation between the NBI and the PNP. So there will be one line of investigation and eventually prosecution,” the newly installed NBI chief said.

Gatdula said in their joint investigation, the NBI and the PNP’s focus is to establish the identities of the perpetrators.

“The perpetrators (of the kidnapping) would be put to the bar of justice,” he vowed.

Commissioner Yusoph, Nuraldin and other members of their family met with Gatdula Friday afternoon to express gratitude to the NBI for helping out in the police’s investigation of the kidnapping case.

“You know, we are in a crusade of putting an end to this kind of activities. This is un-Islamic and our people are now looking for a peaceful resolution,” Commissioner Yusoph said.

He also said he fully supports the government’s “no ransom policy” to show to the abductors that the government does not compromise with criminals.

The Comelec commissioner said he was disheartened to hear from his son what kind of ordeal he went through while he was being held by his kidnappers.

“For the first seven days, Nuraldin was only fed once a day: during the evening, with rice and salt only,” he said, apparently relating what his son had told him.

The elder Yusoph said the motive for the abduction of his son may have had to do with the recent local elections as the kidnappers had initially demanded for the resolution proclaiming the winning candidates in the polls held last May 10 in their area to be annulled.

“They claimed they were cheated. Why get back at me? I am not the one who cheated them. They should face who cheated them,” Yusoph said, labeling the kidnapping as an “act of terrorism.”

Among those who could be subjected to investigation by the NBI and the PNP are three losing candidates in the local polls in Lanao del Sur whom the governor of the province alluded to as the masterminds in the Yusoph abduction.

Just a day after the young Yusoph was released by his kidnappers, reelected Gov. Mamintal Adiong, who heads the Provincial Crisis Management Committee of Lanao del Sur, made a sweeping accusation against the separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front and “mga talunang pulitiko” (defeated candidates) as the ones behind the abduction of the son of the Comelec official.

Apparently, “mga talunang pulitiko” referred to congressional candidates Benasing Macarambon Jr. of the 2nd District of Lanao del Sur, Salic Dumarpa of the province’s 1st District, gubernatorial candidate Omar Solitario and vice gubernatorial candidate Alim Ameroddin Sarangani.

The four politicians cried foul over being tagged by Adiong as the brains in the abduction of Yusoph.

Dumarpa said the accusation was “unfounded and politically motivated, calculated to enhance the chance of Adiong’s allies, specifically his close opponent Hussien Pangandaman, in winning the political exercise especially that of the congressional elections in his district, which is not yet over, as special elections in 12 barangays have still to be conducted.”

“How could I be categorized as a defeated candidate when there is no clearcut winner yet?” he moreover said.

Dumarpa alleged that the release of Nuraldin Yusoph in Cagayan de Oro City was stage-managed to generate political mileage for Adiong and destroy him (Dumarpa) as a politician. PNA

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