Freed toddler reunites with father
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A three-year-old boy freed by his Abu Sayyaf captors on Sunday reunited with his father yesterday.
Ace Jay Garban arrived here yesterday morning escorted by 501st Army Brigade deputy commander Col. Bernardino Sun and was turned over to Brig. Gen. Demy Tejares, deputy chief of Joint Task Force ZamBaSulta.
“The boy was reunited with his father who was visibly emotional,” Tejares told reporters.
The father of the boy, a village chief in Pitogo, declined to talk for security reasons.
“There was no negotiation, no report of ransom. It was a product of focused military operations,” Tejares said.
Tejares said the boy, who now speaks in the Tausug dialect when communicating with his father, was observed to be fond of guns.
Fatima Caminan, protective services unit head of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Zamboanga peninsula, said Garban would be placed under their care before being reintegrated into his home.
Garban was kidnapped along with his two-year-old brother Zynielle Jay and their helper Ledegie Tomarong, 17, in the coastal town of Pitogo, Zamboanga del Sur last year. Zynille was killed during the kidnapping while Tomarong escaped during an encounter in Barangay Kagay in Indanan.
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