ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 12, 2008) – Abu Sayyaf militants have freed late Thursday one of four people they kidnapped in the southern Filipino island of Sulu, police said.
Police said the kidnappers released television cameraman Angelo Valderama in the village of Sinumaan in Talipao town.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding multi-awarded ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and another cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion, including their guide, Professor Octavio Dinampo, of the Mindanao State University.
“Valderama is finally freed. He will undergo medical examination and debriefing by government authorities. We are still waiting for developments on the other hostages,” Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, the Sulu police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said Valderama was freed to emissaries of Indanan town Mayor Isnaji Alvarez. “Valderama looks okay, Kasim said.
The kidnappers have selected Alvarez, a former Moro National Liberation Front rebel leader, to negotiate for the release of the hostages, the ABS-CBN reported.
Alvarez is also one of seven candidates running for the regional governor in the Muslim autonomous region elections in August.
It was not immediately known whether ransom was paid in exchange for the release of Valderama, but the kidnappers have reportedly demanded as much as P50 million for the hostages.
The kidnappers originally demanded P10 million, but a radio network dzRH in Manila on Thursday said the militants asked P50 million from the victims' families negotiating directly with the Abu Sayyaf.
It said the hostages should have been freed on Wednesday after unnamed negotiators agreed to pay the ransom money, but the Abu Sayyaf did not release Drilon's group after the ABS-CBN issued a statement saying it will not pay ransom to the terrorist group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.
The radio network, which quoted unnamed sources privy to the negotiations, also reported that the kidnappers have already lowered their demands to P25 million. The reports could not be independently confirmed and police in Sulu said Dinampo had been separated from the group of Drilon.
"We have intelligence reports saying Dinampo had been separated from the other captives for a still unknown reason," Kasim said.
The fate of Dinampo remains unknown. But Kasim said the hostages are being held by Abu Sayyaf leaders Albader Parad and Umbra Jumdail, also known as Dr. Abu, in Sulu's hinterlands.
Police also tagged Gafur Jumdail as among those who kidnapped the four people on June 8 near the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town while on their way to interview a senior Abu Sayyaf terror leader, Radulan Sahiron, who is said to be planning to surrender.
"ABS CBN News journalists Ces Drilon, Jimmy Encarnacion, and Angelo Valderama have been kidnapped for ransom. ABS CBN News is doing everything it can to help the families of its kidnapped journalists through this harrowing ordeal," the television network said in a statement released on Wednesday.
"However, ABS CBN News will abide by its policy not to pay ransom because this would embolden kidnap for ransom groups to abduct other journalists, putting more lives at risk," it added.
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 Islamiya 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 kidnappings 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 up ransom.
The US has offered up to $5 million bounty and Manila as much as P10 million rewards for known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including Jumdail, for their capture – dead or alive. (Mindanao Examiner)
No comments:
Post a Comment