March 28, 2008, The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf frees school principal, by Roel Pareño,

March 28, 2008, The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf frees school principal, by Roel Pareño,

Friday, 

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Suspected Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants have freed the principal of Notre Dame School in Tawi-Tawi after holding him captive for more than two months, police said yesterday.

Omar Taup, teacher and principal of Notre Dame School in Tabawan, South Ubian, was released last March 17 at the market in Bongao town after his family paid for his “board and lodging.”

"Taup was sickly. He was abandoned at the market site," Superintendent Wainwright Taup, Tawi-Tawi police director, quoted the principal’s brother as saying.

The police official admitted that the victim’'s family shelled out an amount for his "board and lodging" but did not say how much.

However, reports reaching Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police director, said Taup's family paid P200,000 in exchange for his release.

The kidnappers initially demanded P1-million ransom, but later reduced it to P350,000.

According to Superintendent Taup, the principal's family started the negotiations on March 15, even as the police were tracking down his whereabouts for a surprise rescue operation.

He said the victim was immediately brought here for a medical checkup after his release in Bongao town.

The Notre Dame School principal was seized by the Abu Sayyaf led by Wahab Opao and a certain Ben or Umar Asmanan, believed to be JI bomber Dulmatin, last Jan. 15 following the botched kidnapping of Fr. Reynaldo Roda, who was killed when he resisted.

Opao and Asmanan were killed in a Marine offensive last Jan. 31. Remains suspected to be that of Dulmatin were dug up on Feb. 18 and are undergoing DNA tests.