Teacher of USAID funded school rescued in Jolo

October 16, 2019

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Police and military personnel rescued the teacher of a US-funded school in downtown Jolo, Sulu, officials disclosed Wednesday.

Col. Pablo Labra, Sulu police director, said Rosina Singua was rescued around 6:05 a.m. Wednesday in Room 2 of ANR Hotel, Barangay Walled City, Jolo, the capital town of Sulu.

Singua, 58, is a teacher at the Culianan Learning Center, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Labra said the rescue of Singua came almost simultaneously with the arrest of Nurina Jura, 22, who received the ransom money around 5:45 a.m. from Singua’s daughter, Soraya Bantongan, at the port of Jolo.

Labra said Jura, after receiving the ransom, instructed Bantongan to proceed to Room 2 of ANR Hotel, where her mother was kept.

He said  Jura was arrested before she could board a passenger jeep to the town of Indanan.

Maj. Arvin John Encinas, Western Mindanao Command(Westmincom) information officer, said Singua, who was a state of shock, was rushed to Camp Teodulfo Bautista Station Hospital for treatment and eventual debriefing.

Encinas said Singua will be airlifted anytime to this city from Jolo, Sulu.

Labra said a companion of Jura, identified as Nurjia Asakil, was arrested around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday in a follow-up operation.

He disclosed that Asakil claimed the initial ransom payment, which was undisclosed, wired on October 13 through telegraphic transfer in one of the money courier services.

It was reported earlier that kidnappers demanded P10 million ransom which was later reduced to P2 million.

It was also reported that the ransom was lowered to P200,000 after the initial payment was made by the victim’s family.

Singua left home aboard a taxicab on September 27, “with her woman friend, a certain 'Ems,' to attend a wedding in Dipolog City.

However, Sherwin, Singua’s son, received a cellphone call from his mother around 9:23 p.m. of September 28 “with the report that she was at unknown place in Jolo, Sulu.”

Singua told her son that she was allegedly abducted by unidentified persons in front of the Jolo Church after attending mass. DMS