After almost two months in Abu Sayyaf captivity, British Allan Arthur Hyrons and his Filipino wife were rescued on Nov. 25 during a clash between the bandits and soldiers in Parang town, Sulu province.
Hyrons and his wife, Wilma, escaped and ran toward the government forces while their captors were under heavy fire during the 20-minute encounter near Mt. Piahan in Barangay Kaha, said Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, head of the Western Mindanao Command.
The military had been pursuing the bandits for the past two weeks, and some of them were killed, Sobejana said.
Hyrons, 70, who is a dual citizen, has lived in Mindanao’s Zamboanga del Sur region with his wife since 2013.
On Oct. 4, four unidentified men who spoke Tausug seized the Hyronses from their beach resort in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur and dragged them into a motorized banca, according to a resort worker.
Rosalie Decierdo, who was in the store at the compound of Hyrons Beach Resort when the couple arrived on board their red multicab, said she saw a man wearing a cap approach them. Three other gunmen followed him.
She said the couple “were not able to speak” and were brought to the shore. Two of the kidnappers checked in at the resort and occupied a cottage. The other two joined them the next day, she said.
Gov. Victor Yu of Zamboanga del Sur pledged a P1-million reward to anyone who could identify the kidnappers and pinpoint their whereabouts.
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