Suspected Moro rebels seized three women, one of them the daughter of a wealthy car dealer, in the southern Philippine port city of Davao, in the southern Philippines, last Thursday, police and military said in a belated report.

Gunmen seized Maria Cecilia Bonifacio, 22, Fe Jaylo and a woman who was only identified as Norma in broad daylight, police said.

Mindanao military chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu has ordered an intensified intelligence efforts to track down the victims. "There are efforts to trace the hostages," he said.

The trio was travelling in a car near Sta. Ana wharf when gunmen blocked their path and seized them, said regional police director Chief Supt. Bartolome Baluyot. Bonifacio's family owns the Bonifacio Motors in Davao City.

Baluyot, also the commander of an anti-kidnapping task force, said the Pentagon gang which is holding kidnapped Italian priest Giuseppe Pierantoni, is behind the abduction.

The Pentagon gang is composed mostly of renegade Moro Islamic Liberation front (MILF) rebels headed by Tahir Alonto and Faizal Marohombsar.

The group was behind the kidnapping last year of Filipino traders and several Chinese engineers working on a government dam project outside Davao City.

"We are still confirming this, but we already set-up checkpoints in many areas, including General Santos City and Cotabato provinces, known lairs of the Pentagon gang and other lawless groups," he said. He added: "The authorities are closely coordinating with local government officials to resolve this problem and so far, there have been no demands for ransom."

But the dzRH radio network in Manila, quoting an unidentified source, said the kidnappers had demanded five million pesos.

Davao City police chief Senior Supt. Wilfredo Garcia said "there is an ongoing operation, but we cannot give out details because it could jeopardise everything."

He said: "The victims' families had threatened not to cooperate with us should this leak to the media because they fear for the lives of the victims."

Garcia said there are ongoing negotiations by the families to free the victims. "There is negotiation, but there is also a police operation," he told dzRH. "There could be results maybe in the next 24 hours or in two days."

Cimatu said the Pentagon gang is holding Pierantoni, who was seized in October inside this rectory in the coastal town of Dimataling in Zamboanga del Sur province. The kidnappers have demanded P5 million ($98,000) in exchange for the priest's safe release.