MANILA 8 May 2007 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday ruled out calls for direct negotiations with Nigerian kidnappers holding eight Filipino nationals and warned relatives against being used by the bandits.

DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the government is relying on the Nigerian government to resolve the latest kidnapping crisis to plague the African state.

“We have agreed — the South Korean government, Daewoo and the Philippine government — that we will not be dragged into a negotiation, separate or tripartite with the kidnappers,” Conejos told reporters. “We have been assured by the Nigerian government that all of our eight workers are sound and in good condition.”

Conejos said Nigerian government negotiators have contacted the gunmen who seized the Filipino workers and three South Korean executives last week from a Daewoo Engineering and Construction site in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta region.

He stressed that only the Nigerian government was authorized to enter into talks with the kidnappers, whose identities and demands remained unknown.

Conejos said he met with the families of the hostages yesterday morning to brief them on the talks, and appealed on the press to avoid being used by the kidnappers in advancing their interests.

A day earlier, one of the Filipino hostages appealed for help in a recorded radio message, saying they were being beaten and starved by their captors in a Nigerian jungle.

The recorded message could be “an attempt to sow panic among us especially to raise the anxiety level of the families here,” Conejos said.

In the recording aired by DZBB radio, one of the Filipino hostages said they feared for their lives and urged the government to contact the kidnappers because “every single hour is important.” But in the same recording, a heavily accented voice could be heard in the background telling the hostage what to say.

“In the airing of telephone call, we were really playing into the hands of the kidnappers. That’s what the kidnappers want to do: To create panic. So we have to balance these things,” Conejos said.

“Lives are on the line here... We have been assured by the Nigerian government that all of our eight OFWs are sound and in good condition,” he said, contradicting the radio report.

Philippine diplomats were also working closely with South Korean officials on the ground in Nigeria.

Night of Terror

Meanwhile, 26 of 45 Filipinos who also worked in the Daewoo compound were flown home to Manila yesterday while the rest were scheduled to return Tuesday.

In an interview, two of the returning OFWs said they managed to flee the camp when the gunmen entered their campsite at the Daewoo-run power plant in oil-rich Port Harcourt in Nigeria.

“When I heard them sing their victory song, I was scared because it meant that they had already entered (the camp),” said Aldren Blen, 26, recalling the rebel hymn that they had been warned about.

Jhojie Bagayas, an electrician from Makati., said he and Blen escaped the rebel assault and were among 27 who returned to Manila on Monday.

At least 17 more Filipinos were expected to come home today from Nigeria, said Conejos. There were originally 81 Filipino workers in the Korean plant, but batches had been flown home since January when Manila ordered the return of workers based in Port Harcourt after 25 Filipinos were kidnapped in the area in previous incidents.

Reiterating Manila’s policy to leave to Nigerian authorities the task of negotiating with the kidnappers, Conejos said the DFA had no information about a reported $10-million ransom demand. He said Nigerian authorities had yet to identify the kidnappers they had contacted.

Some 4,500 Filipinos work in Nigeria, and Conejos said Manila would also repatriate those who felt in danger, although he said the security problem was focused on gas and oil areas.

The Philippines imposed a ban on travel to Nigeria after 26 Filipinos were abducted by gunmen in January. They were all freed unharmed after being held for nearly a month. (With input from Inquirer News Service & AFP)

About eight million Filipinos, or almost 10 percent of the population, work abroad and their remittances are a major pillar of the country’s economy. (With reports by AFP & Inquirer News Service)