The Norwegian abductees was said to be the manager of the resort while the identity of the Filipino woman has not been identified.
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Caber says the gunmen appeared to have specifically targeted the victims when they entered the Holiday Oceanview Samal Resort late Monday on the northern tip of the island, about 975 kilometres southeast of Manila.
Police are pursuing unidentified men who abducted two Canadian nationals and a Filipina at Ocean View Resort, IGACOS, Davao del Norte Monday night.
Two Japanese tourists also reportedly tried to intervene but were unsuccessful.
Navy ships have been deployed to search for the gunmen’s boat, as well as for potential landing sites in southeastern Mindanao.
Caber identified the victims as Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall; and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad. He said the couple suffered minor injuries.
The police said the armed men used two motorized outriggers.
The military report on the incident said “the kidnappers spoke clear English, Visaya, and Tagalog, and seem(ed) to have specific targets”.
The hostages were dragged into a speedboat, which was last seen heading towards Compostella Valley province, said police Senior Superintendent Aaron Aquino, a regional deputy commander for operations.
Gadingan said the incident happened as the victims were on a yacht docked at Holiday Oceanview Resort in the village of Camudmod, Babak district when the suspects forcibly took them at gunpoint around 11:20 p.m.
They seized dozens of Filipino hostages on Basilan and 21 people, mostly European tourists, from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan in 2000, and abducted three Americans and 17 Filipinos in 2001 from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan province southwest of Manila.
In 2001, al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist militants tried but failed to kidnap foreign tourists on Samal island’s Pearl Farm resort.
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The militants are still holding other hostages, including two Malaysians, a Dutch bird watcher kidnapped almost three years ago, and a town’s mayor.
