December 7, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — After confirming reports that kidnapped American vlogger Elliot Onil Eastman has been killed by his captors, the Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday vowed justice in the case as the manhunt for the suspects was intensified.
Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson for the PNP, said police are hunting down the four men who seized Eastman in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte on Oct. 17.
As this developed, the US embassy said it is monitoring developments on the Eastman case.
“We have no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens in the Philippines,” the embassy said in a statement released yesterday. “We are coordinating with local authorities.”
Earlier, three men believed involved in the kidnapping of Eastman were killed in separate encounters with police. Three others have surrendered.
Citing accounts of a witness, the Zamboanga peninsula police said Eastman died on the night of the kidnapping that occurred in Barangay Poblacion.
Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan, acting spokesman for the regional police, said the critical incident management task group has obtained information that Eastman was shot twice and died as he was being transported in a motorized banca away from Sibuco.
The witness said Eastman was shot in the abdomen and thigh. He said the kidnappers threw the victim’s body into the sea.
Fajardo said Eastman could have died from losing too much blood. She said the police and military are still looking for his body.
The PNP has yet to declare the Eastman case closed.
“For the sake of the family, we cannot say that the case is closed as the body has not been recovered yet,” Fajardo said.
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