KOTA KINABALU: Philippines officials have confirmed that the five Malaysians reported missing from their tugboat at the east coast were taken hostage by Abu Sayyaf group (ASG).
An online report from The Philippine Star quoted Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Jesus Dureza, saying he had learnt that the bandit group had abducted the five, but did not elaborate on details.
The crewmen, Abdul Rahim Summas, Tayudin Anjut, Fandy Bakran and Mohd Jumadil Rahim all from Tawau as well as Mohd Ridzuan Ismail from Pahang, have been reported missing.
The tugboat they were on, the Serudong 3, was found unmanned in Lahad Datu waters on Monday at 2pm.
Dureza said he received a call from Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari, saying they wish to coordinate with the Philippines 'military forces on the ground' to help address the criminal acts committed by ASG.
However he believed military action was not the sole solution to stopping the culture of violence and kidnapping in Mindanao.
"It is not simple military action…. You just can't bomb anybody there,”" Dureza was quoted as saying.
He has also spoken to Marites Flor, the Filipina abducted in September last year but then released by the group last month, who shared information on how ASG found refuge in communities.
"She told me that there are groups that bring victims to a so-called … warehouse.
"But the community is involved because these are areas that are very remote, they have not been reached by the government," Dureza said.
The captors and their victims were able to transfer from one lair to another and evade the pursuing military and police due to this, he explained.