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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Abu Sayyaf
militants are reportedly demanding as much as P50 million for the
safe release of a kidnapped television news crew on the southern
island of Sulu.
The militants are holding
award-winning ABS-CBN reporter Ces Oreña-Drilon and her two
cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, as well as
university professor Octavio Dinampo.
Television network ABS-CBN
Broadcasting Corp. said it would not pay ransom to kidnappers, who
originally demanded P10 million.
Radio network dzRH in Manila on
Thursday said the militants were demanding P50 million from the
victims’ families negotiating directly with the Abu Sayyaf.
It said the hostages should have
been freed on Wednesday after negotiators agreed to pay the ransom,
but the Abu Sayyaf did not release Drilon’s group after ABS-CBN
issued a statement saying it will not pay ransom to the terrorist
group linked to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah.
The radio network, owned by the
Manila Broadcasting Corp., which quoted unnamed sources privy to the
negotiations, also reported that the kidnappers have already lowered
their demand to P25 million. The report could not be independently
confirmed.
It said the hostages are being
held by Abu Sayyaf leaders Albader Parad and Umbra Jumdail, also
known as Dr. Abu, in Sulu province. Police also tagged Gafur Jumdail
as among those who kidnapped the four people on June 8.
Drilon and her companions were
intercepted near the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town while on
their way to interview senior Abu Sayyaf terror leader Radulan
Sahiron, who is said to be planning to surrender.
Police said the hostages are
still alive, but it was unclear where the Abu Sayyaf is hiding the
victims.
Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao,
chief of the regional police force, said there are efforts to
negotiate with the kidnappers for the release of the hostages.
“There are options here and one is to locate the hostages and
negotiate for their safe release,” he said.
Goltiao said the government has a
strict no-ransom policy.
He added that the police are
closely coordinating with Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan, the head of the local
Crisis Management Committee, in resolving the problem peacefully.
Parad and Jumdail are notorious
Abu Sayyaf leaders wanted by Washington and Manila for terrorism and
kidnappings-for-ransom. The two are also believed coddling Jemaah
Islamiah bomber Dulmatin and Umar Patek, tagged as behind the 2002
deadly bombings in Bali which killed more than 200 mostly tourists;
and in several attacks in Jakarta.
The Abu Sayyaf group was also
tagged as behind the kidnapping early this year of Maria Rosalie
Lao, 58, a rice trader in Jolo town. It was also behind the
kidnapping in 2001 of 21 people, mostly Asian and European tourists
from the Malaysian island-resort of Sipadan.
Last year, the group kidnapped
seven people in Sulu and beheaded them after their families failed
to pay ransom.
The US has offered up to
$5-million bounty and Manila as much as P10 million for the
capture—dead or alive—of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including
Jumdail.
The Philippines’ largest Muslim
rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, also offered to help
secure the release of Drilon’s team that arrived in Sulu on June 7
from Zamboanga City.
Senior Superintendent Julasirim
Kasim said Drilon did not coordinate with them when they arrived in
Sulu. She also declined military escorts. He said the victims were
believed taken to the hinterlands of Indanan town.
Drilon’s group was lodged at
the Sulu State College hostel in Jolo town where they took two rooms
and left after ordering food good for 20 people.
Drilon’s group was the second
from the television network to be kidnapped in Sulu in the past
eight years. Reporter Maan Macapagal and her cameraman Val Cuenca
were also kidnapped on the island while working on exclusive news on
the Abu Sayyaf.
Independent journalist Arlyn de
la Cruz was also kidnapped in Sulu while covering the Abu Sayyaf.
Another photojournalist, Gene Boyd Lumawag, was shot in the head by
an Abu Sayyaf militant while shooting the sunset in Sulu several
years ago.
The Abu Sayyaf had also seized
foreign journalists covering the Sipadan kidnapping crisis. Many of
those kidnapped were freed after paying huge ransoms.
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