Five kidnapped in Philippines

Five kidnapped in Philippines

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (AP): A doctor, his brother and three others traveling with them in a truck were kidnapped in the southern Philippines, police said on Thursday.

Authorities and relatives of Dr. Vicente Cabalida learned about his abduction on Wednesday, four days after he was reported missing while on his way from Digos City to General Santos City, about 80 kilometers away, police said.

Cabalida called his family in Digos and told them to sell his shares in the Digos Doctors Hospital where he worked to raise the 7 million pesos (US$181,800) ransom demanded by his abductors, whom he did not identify, said General Santos Police chief Conrado Laza.

Cabalida, his brother Eduard, two women friends and a farmhand who works for the doctor were traveling in a pickup truck last Saturday on their way to General Santos to see a mango farm being offered for sale, police said.