Sayyaf frees remaining aid worker kidnapped in Southern Philippines

Freed kidnapped aid worker Millet Mendoza with Philippine Navy Captain Jeanne Lingan in Zamboanga City on Saturday, November 15, 2008.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 15, 2008) – Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants have freed the last of two aid workers they kidnapped in Basilan island in the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday.

Philippine Marines chief General Mohamad Dolorfino said Millet Mendoza was released late Friday on a remote village in Basilan. “Kidnappers have freed Mendoza. She is okay,” Dolorfino told The Manila Times.

Mendoza was released in the town of Al-Barka, a stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. It was unknown if Mendoza’s family paid ransom or not, but the kidnappers previously demanded P7 million in exchange for her freedom.

Mendoza was seized Sept. 15 along with Esperancita Hupida, program director of the Nagdilaab Foundation, which is active in humanitarian and development works in Basilan island.

Hupida was also freed Oct. 30 also in Al-Barka town after her family paid P2 million ransom.

Just last week, Abu Sayyaf militants have released a kidnapped Filipino nurse, Preciosa Feliciano, after four months in captivity in Basilan in exchange for P2 million ransoms.

Feliciano, 24, was freed November 7 in Tipo-Tipo town. She was kidnapped July 7 in Zamboanga City and brought to Basilan by boat.

Kidnappers are still holding a Joed Anthony Pilangga, a nursing student snatched on October 17 outside their house in Zamboanga City. Kidnappers have demanded P20 million from Pilangga's family.

The Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped nine people in recent months in Basilan and sent letters to Christians living on the island threatening them with harm if they do not embrace Islam. The letters were signed by Indama and Jamiri. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sayyafs free one of two kidnapped aid worker in Southern Philippines

Abu Sayyaf militants freed on Thursday, October 30, 2008, one of two kidnapped aid workers, Esperancita Hupida, in the southern Philippine island of Basilan after 76 days in captivity. Hupida, the program director of the Nagdilaab Foundation, was brought to the Zamboanga Doctors Hospital in Zamboanga City. Militants are still holding Millet Mendoza in Basilan island, several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City. The Abu Sayyaf earlier demanded P7 million for the release of the hostages. Also shown in photos is Zamboanga Doctors Hospital nurse Vivian Dendiego who barred photographers from getting inside the hospital. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 30, 2008) – Abu Sayyaf militants freed Thursday one of two kidnapped aid workers after 45 days in captivity in Basilan island in the Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Esperancita Hupida, program director of the multi-awarded Nagdilaab Foundation, was released on a remote village near Tipo-Tipo town before sunrise, but militants held on to Millet Mendoza, a freelance aid worker.

Both Hupida and Mendoza were among 7 people kidnapped Sept. 15 in Tipo-Tipo’s Kabangalan village. Five other aid workers from the Christian Children's Fund had either escaped or freed by the Abu Sayyaf.

Hupida was released to private negotiators and it was not immediately known how much ransom was paid to the Abu Sayyaf in exchange for her freedom. But the militants previously demanded P2 million for Hupida’s safe release.

“We don’t know whether ransom was paid or not, but we are monitoring the situation and is working closely with the provincial crisis management committee headed by Vice Gov. Al Rasheed Sakalahul,” Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani, the regional police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Hupida was brought to Zamboanga City on a military boat early in the morning and attended a mass inside the naval base.

She was later brought to the Zamboanga Doctors Hospital for physical and medical examinations, but a nurse, Vivian Dendiego, prevented news photographers and journalists from getting inside the hospital.

The military had halted operations to rescue the hostages to pave way for a peaceful negotiation for their release. Mendoza was a former staff worker at the Office of Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Father Angel Calvo, of the Peace Advocates Zamboanga, is also helping in securing the safe release of the remaining hostage. He said Hupida and Mendoza are community development workers who have been serving the Muslim areas in Basilan for many years now.

Different humanitarian and solidarity groups have condemned the kidnappings. The Christian Children's Fund and the Nagdilaab Foundation are both active in various peace and humanitarian projects in Basilan.

The military tagged the Abu Sayyaf group under Puruji Indama and Nur Hassan Jamiri as behind the kidnappings.

The Nagdilaab Foundation spun off the Isabela Foundation, which was organized many years ago by the Roman Catholic prelature of Basilan to provide community and humanitarian help to poor residents in the province.

The CCF, an international child-sponsorship group based in Virginia in the United States, has worked in the Philippines since 1954 and has been assisting more than 453,000 children and their families and contributed more than $7.8 million for community programs in the country.

The Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped nine people in recent months in Basilan and sent letters to Christians living on the island threatening them with harm if they do not embrace Islam. The letters were signed by Indama and Jamiri. (Mindanao Examiner)

Four Aid Workers Kidnapped In Southern Philippines

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 15, 2008) – Four aid workers have been kidnapped Monday in the island of Basilan, a known stronghold of Moro rebels in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police identified the victims as Esperancita Hupida, Millet Mendoza, Ludy Borja Dekit and Dionisio Estandarte. Two others – Romeo Delos Reyes and Sahida Alasa – managed to escape from their captors.

They were in two vehicles when ten gunmen intercepted them before noontime near the Kabangalan village in Tipo-Tipo town, where Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels are actively operating, said Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, the island’s police chief.

“Police and military forces are tracking down the hostages. We still do not know who were behind the latest kidnappings,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

The victims were members of the Christian Children’s Fund and the Nagdilaab Foundation, which are both active in various humanitarian projects in Basilan, just several miles off Zamboanga City.

Police said one of the hostages, Esperancita Hupida, is the program director of the Nagdilaab Foundation.

Father Angel Calvo, a Catholic missionary and head of the Peace Advocate Zamboanga, appealed to kidnappers to free the hostages. He said the kidnappers are holding a fifth hostage, who was helping coordinate humanitarian projects in Basilan.

Calvo said the hostages are community development workers who have been serving the Muslim communities in Basilan for many years now.

He said the victims were on their way back to Isabela City from a meeting with town officials when the gunmen flagged down the vehicles.

The Nagdilaab Foundation was last month conferred the Ateneo Peace Award in Zamboanga City because of its dedicated leadership and unwavering involvement in the “Pantabangan Basulta,” a consortium of ten non-government organizations that engage and support local leaders and multisectoral constituents in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi to develop sustainable interventions to promote peace and development in partnership with communities and stake-holders.

NFI spun off the Isabela Foundation, which was organized many years ago by the Roman Catholic prelature of Basilan to provide community and humanitarian help to poor residents in the province.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped nine people in recent months in Basilan and sent letters to Christians living on the island threatening them with harm if they do not embrace Islam.

The letters were signed by Puruji Indama and Nur Hassan Jamiri, both known leaders of the Abu Sayyaf group. (Mindanao Examiner)