MANILA: With the release from captivity of an ABS-CBN news team and a peace advocate, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday ordered the military and police to launch an all-out offensive to pursue and neutralize their kidnappers in the jungles of Sulu.

Meeting separately with Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Alexander Yano and military commanders in Mindanao, the president ordered them to launch “intensive punitive actions” against the kidnappers of ABS-CBN senior reporter Ces Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and Mindanao State University Prof. Octavio Dinampo, according to Press Secretary Jesus Dureza..

“We will be using the full might of the government forces in that area to go after them, of course without unduly compromising the safety of the civilian communities,” Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, the Armed Forces spokesman, told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.

Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said his men were now on “operation mode” against the kidnappers believed to be Abu Sayyaf bandits responsible for a series of kidnappings, beheadings and bombings in Mindanao.

“We are on an all-out offensive against these kidnappers and the perpetrators of the crime,” Goltiao said.

Goltiao said some of the kidnappers had been identified through pictures and aliases. He said Drilon had picked out some of the suspects from a photo gallery.

Drilon told the press conference that some of their kidnappers were “as young as 12.”

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the kidnappers were young members of the Abu Sayyaf faction of Radullan Sahiron. He described them as amateurs.

In Sulu province, Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, chief of Task Force Comet, said troops started operating in the tri-boundary of the Indanan, Patikul and Talipao towns “right after Ces was released.”

“There will be no letup until such time that we are able to crush them,” he said.

But Sabban refused to name who government forces were pursuing: “We cannot afford to make it public at this time, lest it jeopardize the ongoing pursuit operation.”

Drilon, Encarnacion and Dinampo were freed in Sitio Danasi in Barangay Lower Sinumaan, Talipao, at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Sen. Loren Legarda, Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Anne Sahidulla had negotiated for their release.

“I immediately sent men to Danasi to collect the three, and they arrived in my house at around 11:45 p.m.,” Isnaji said.

The ABS-CBN team and Dinampo, who served as guide, were kidnapped on June 8. Valderama was released in Talipao on June 12 after the payment of a “board and lodging fee.”

At 3:45 a.m. yesterday, two Air Force helicopters carrying the freed hostages, Mayor Isnaji and his son Haider landed at Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City in transit to Manila.

Separate debriefings

The Isnajis were flown to Manila where, according to PNP Director General Avelino Razon, they were to undergo “further debriefing.”

Dinampo was debriefed starting at 7 a.m. and at 3 p.m., the professor said he was “still being debriefed by the PNP.”

Razon said Dinampo was being considered “a victim,” not a suspect.

The Isnajis reportedly arrived at the Manila domestic airport at around 8 a.m. and reached the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) headquarters at around 9 a.m.

The CIDG chief, Chief Supt. Raul Castañeda, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the Isnajis were being questioned on the negotiations “to get the whole picture” of the kidnapping.

Asked if Mayor Isnaji, the chief negotiator, was being considered a suspect, Castañeda said: “As of now, no.”

A source in the CIDG said that the Isnajis were undergoing “tactical interrogation” by investigators and lawyers.

Said Puno: “We want to find out exactly what (Mayor Isnaji’s) role was. Isnaji was identified by the kidnappers as their representative ... I don’t think you are a representative if you’re a stranger to me. We want to know where they came from, who were the emissaries.”

Puno confirmed in Davao City that Sen. Legarda was one of three people who served as backdoor channel in the negotiations to free Drilon et al.

He refused to name the two others but said they were from the military.