Manila: A Filipino village chief held hostage by Islamic militants has been found beheaded on a highway on the remote southern island of Jolo, police officials said yesterday. Rodolfo Boligao was captured in May by the Abu Sayyaf, an Al-Qaeda-linked group in the SouthernPhilippines.
Boligao’s handcuffed remains were found last Tuesday evening, with his severed head placed by his side, said Walter Anayo, police chief of Maimbung town.
“The body was intentionally left in the middle of the road so that people could find it,” he said. Abu Sayyaf bandits seized Boligao and two members of the coast guard from the port city of Dapitan, some 250 kilometres from Jolo in May and demanded a ransom amount. The government rejected the demand with the fate of the coast guard members unknown. Jolo island is a known hideout of the Abu Sayyaf, a loose band of several hundred armed men that was founded in the 1990s with seed money from the Al-Qaeda.
The group often resorts to kidnappings for ransom, targeting foreigners when possible.
It has beheaded several of its captives including American Guillermo Sobero in 2001. It is currently holding at least seven hostages, according to the military.
The group was blamed for the firebombing of a ferry off Manila bay in 2004 that killed over 100 people.
AFP
