Two beheaded cadavers recovered in Basilan

By Jong Cadion

ZAMBOANGA CITY (July 5, 2017) - Two cadavers left by unkown perpetrators were found by members of the local community of Brgy. Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan Province early Wednesday (July 5), military official said. 

Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) information officer Cpt Jo-Ann D. Petinglay disclosed that the bodies, both decapitated, were identified as Hoang Thong and Hoang VaHai, both among the 6 kidnapped crew members of the MV Royal16 Vietnamese cargo vessel, who were forcibly taken last November 11, 2016 at the seawaters southeast of Sibago Island, in the nearby province of Basilan. 

“The bodies were found at 5:40 in the morning by a member of the local populace,” says Colonel Juvymax Uy, the Commander of the Joint Task Force Basilan. 

“The cadavers will be made to undergo forensic exams as coordination with the Vietnamese embassy is also simultaneously done,” he adds.

As of this report, soldiers and policemen based in Basilan are getting information on the details of the incident. 

“We grieve as we strongly condemn the barbaric beheading of another kidnap victims in Basilan Province. For months now, many sectors in the society, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the PNP exhausted all efforts to rescue these kidnap victims who are still in the hands of the ASG,” says Lieutenant General Carlito G Galvez, Jr. 

"WestMinCom commiserates with the bereaved family and friends of the slain victims. In no way does the Abu Sayyaf Group represent our Muslim brothers who are true followers of the Islam." 

Cpt. Petinglay said that six (6) crew members of the said vessel were abducted November of last year namely: Pham Minh Tuan; Do Trung Hieu; Hoang Vo; Tran Khac Dung; Hoang Trung Thong; and Hoang VaHai.

It can be recalled that on June 2017, operating troops of JTF Basilan while conducting combat operations rescued Vietnamese kidnapped victim Hoang Vo, 28 years old at vicinity So Kumonal, Sampinit Complex, Sumisip, she added. 

Three (3) other KVs are subject of the intensive ongoing rescue operations conducted by the troops of Basilan.