SULU, Philippines, 14 June 2008 — Abu Sayyaf militants holding a television news crew and a university professor in the southern island of Sulu have cut off communication to government negotiators, leaving the fate of the hostages at the mercy of their captors.

“We have been trying to get in touch with the kidnappers, but all their cell phones have been turned off,” said Indanan town Mayor Isnaji Alvarez, who is negotiating with the Abu Sayyaf group.

It was not clear why the Abu Sayyaf cut off the communication line, but the US military have been helping the local authorities track down the hostages and their captors.

US soldiers helping Filipino security forces fight terrorism were said to be using electronic surveillance and unmanned aerial vehicles to trace the locations of the hostages.

The militants freed late Thursday television cameraman Angelo Valderama in the village of Sinumaan in Talipao town.

But the gunmen are 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.

The Philippine military took custody of the freed captive and hid him from dozens of reporters now encamped in Jolo town.

Alvarez, a former Moro National Liberation Front leader, admitted they paid a few hundred thousand pesos to the kidnappers for the freedom of Valderama.

“We are convincing the kidnappers to release Ces Drilon ahead of the others, but they refused for a still unknown reason,” he said.

The money paid to the kidnappers came from Isnaji and Sulu deputy governor Nur Ana Sahidulla. “We paid some sort of a ‘board and lodging’ fees to the kidnappers to secure the release of one hostage,” Alvarez said.

He said the kidnappers were also negotiating directly with Drilon’s family, but he did not give details of the progress of the talks.

The kidnappers reportedly demanded ransom between P10 million to P50 million. Other sources said P5 million was allegedly paid to the gang for Valderama’s release.

Earlier media reports also said that P2 million was paid to the Abu Sayyaf, but Alvarez denied this and at the same time criticized Undersecretary Amilasan Amilbajar, of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Mindanao, who was allegedly the source of the news.

“Amilasan should stop talking to the press because he does not know what is going on here. He will just get reports from different sources and then passed them off as his reports. He is not even part of the negotiating team. This is political propaganda,” Alvarez said.

The kidnappers have selected Alvarez to negotiate for the release of the hostages. Alvarez is also one of seven candidates running for the post of regional governor in the Muslim autonomous region elections in August.

Last year, the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped seven people in Sulu and beheaded them after their families failed to pay up ransom.