Gary Goldsworthy says he and his partner were asleep on their yacht at the Holiday Ocean View Resort on Samal Island on Monday when they were awoken by what they initially believed to be a domestic dispute.
"Initially we thought it was some sort of domestic dispute, we weren't expecting this sort of attack," he told SBS World News. "We had been led to believe that this was quite a safe area."
Looking through a port hole they saw men take two Canadian tourists, a Norwegian resort manager, and a Filipino women away at gunpoint.
Mr Goldworthy said he and others who knew the people who were taken are desperate to find them.
"Our biggest concern now is for our fellow yachstmen, who have been taken. Obviously, it has been two days and we haven't heard anything."
Philippines army Captain Alberto Caber said there were about 30 foreign tourists at the resort at the time of the raid.
A man walks inside the compound of Holiday Ocean View Samal Resort, on Samal Island in southern Philippines Source: AP
Mr Goldworthy said it was pure luck that saw him and his partner avoid the same fate.
"We were lucky. Possibly one of the reasons we weren't targeted was because the boat was new in the marina," he said.
"I'm assuming that whoeever did the attack would have had to plan it. Our boat was new in the marina, and we had been away all weekend."
'Intense manhunt' underway
A Canadian mining firm which one of the tourists worked for said it was conducting an "intense manhunt" in cooperation with the army.
Two boats have been found during an aerial search and authorities are trying to determine whether they were used by the kidnappers.
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"Unfortunately, the lead time that the abductors had and the darkness of night were able to cover the retreat of the abductors," military spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla said.
No group has claimed responsibility.
Military and police officials were surprised by the attack, which occurred despite recent peace initiatives with the largest Muslim rebel group in the south.
The peace deal in 2014 ended 45 years of conflict that resulted in the deaths of 120,000 people and displaced two million people.
'Professional kidnappers'
Shirley Anthony, a spokeswoman for the Calgary-based mining group TVI Pacific Inc, which has a stake in operations in the Philippines, said the company had launched a search for Ridsdel, a semi-retired consultant for TVI.
"Right now we are actually in the midst of an intense rescue effort for John, a total manhunt," Anthony said. "The military is involved as well."
She said she did not believe there had yet been any contact with the kidnappers, but that "the people who have abducted him are professional kidnappers for ransom".
Philippine military sources said the gunmen spoke English and Tagalog, the language spoken widely in the Philippines.
"A Japanese couple was initially seized but they were able to escape with some head injuries," Lieutenant-General Aurelio Baladad, the army's regional commander, told reporters. "The gunmen and their captives headed to the east in two boats."
Police said a private security guard had recovered a note reading "Justice for our commander, by NPA" posted on the resort's gate five hours after the abduction, the first sign that Maoist guerrillas might be behind the attack.
However, security and local government officials doubted whether the New People's Army rebels had the capability to carry out the attack. "We are still validating that information," said provincial police chief Samuel Gadingan.
- with Reuters
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