7 kidnapped in Batangas

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — Seven persons were reportedly kidnapped by unidentified men in separate incidents in Batangas on Friday afternoon.

Two of the victims, identified as Perly Lape and Ma. Jennelyn Bauya, escaped from their captors and reported the kidnapping to the Laurel police station, according to Capt. Errol Frejas, town police chief.

Frejas identified the other victims as Mark Neil Caraan, Shane Despe, Carlo Fazon, Mar Christian Ore, Eugene Noora and Paulino Sebastian, all of Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Bauya and Lape told police that they were on their way home from a resort in Lian, Batangas when four vehicles with at least 10 armed men on board cut them along the Nasugbu-Tagaytay Highway in Barangay Niyugan, Laurel.

The armed men reportedly approached the victims, forced them out of their vehicle and dragged them toward a white van.

Frejas said the vehicle of the victims was found abandoned in Calamba, Laguna.

Meanwhile, graphic artist Kenneth Roger was in a commercial establishment in Barangay Malinis, Lemery town when a car with several men on board pulled over.

The men approached Roger, dragged and forced him into the car, according to Col. Glicerio Cansilao, Batangas police director.

Investigation is ongoing for both incidents, Cansilao said.