Two employees of a lending firm were abducted in the southern Philippines in the latest in a series of kidnappings, police said Wednesday.
The victims, Lea Patris and Ammad Sali, were kidnapped Tuesday in Sumisip town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, while they were collecting payments, dpa reported.
The provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, said a third companion was able to escape and report the incident to police.
Macapantar said police officers and marines were pursuing the kidnappers.
The latest kidnapping occurred despite heightened security in the southern Philippines after the abduction of three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last month.
Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba were abducted January 15 on nearby Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.
Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels were believed to be holding the Red Cross workers captive. They have demanded that the military pull out of Jolo before holding negotiations for the hostages' release.
The guerrillas have also been blamed for the kidnapping Monday of Filipino-Chinese businessman Dionghan Que on Jolo.
In Basilan, a separate group of Abu Sayyaf rebels was believed to be holding three Filipino teachers and a midwife who were abducted in separate incidents last month.
Unidentified gunmen also abducted a 9-year-old boy in Lamitan City in Basilan on January 31.
The Philippine military has admitted that the kidnapping problem has worsened in Basilan and Jolo.
"The kidnappers have become so vicious, and we are having difficulty providing protection to all residents of Basilan and Jolo," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said.
"In the past, they only targeted prominent businessmen, the moneyed residents in the area," Torres added. "But now, they kidnap anyone, even those who are helping like the ICRC staff and the teachers."
"They even kidnapped a boy who does not come from a prominent family," he said.
Basilan and Jolo are strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, which has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks and high-profile kidnappings in the Philippines.