ZAMBOANGA CITY, 12 June 2008 — Television giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation said it would not pay ransom to Abu Sayyaf militants who are holding its news crew hostage.
The Abu Sayyaf is demanding P10 million for the safe release of the hostages, according a military report. Militants are holding award-winning reporter Ces Drilon and her two cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, including a university professor Octavio Dinampo.
The four were intercepted near the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town on June 8 while on their way to clandestinely 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 yesterday.
“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.
Police said the hostages are still alive, but it was unclear where the Abu Sayyaf is hiding the victims.
“They are alive. We have sources who told us that all four hostages are alive,” Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, commander of police forces in the Muslim autonomous region, told Arab News.
Goltiao said there are efforts to negotiate with the kidnappers for the release of the hostages. “There are options here and one if to locate the hostages and negotiate for their safe release,” he said.
He said the police are closely coordinating with Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan, the head of the local Crisis Management Committee, in resolving the problem peacefully.
Police have tagged Gafur Jumdail and Albader Parad, a young, but notorious Abu Sayyaf leader who is wanted both by Washington and Manila for terrorism and killings, as behind the kidnappings.
Parad’s group was also tagged as behind the kidnapping early this year of Maria Rosalie Lao, 58, a rice trader in Jolo town.
He was among the Abu Sayyaf militants that seized 21 people, mostly Asian and European tourists in April 2000 from the Malaysian island resort of Sipadan. Last year, Parad’s group also kidnapped seven people in Sulu and beheaded them after their families failed to pay up ransom.
Parad is also included in the terror list both of Washington and Manila for his involvement in the spate of terror attacks and kidnappings of foreigners. The US has offered up to $750,000 bounty for Parad’s capture.
The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, also dispatched a team to help secure the release of Drilon’s team.
Jun Mantawil, an MILF official said the team would try to get in touch with Abu Sayyaf rebels holding the hostages even though they have limited influence on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometers south of Manila.
Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim said Drilon did not coordinate with them when they arrived in Sulu. She also declined military escorts. He said the victims were believed taken to the hinterlands of Indanan town.
Drilon’s group was the second from the television network to be kidnapped in Sulu in the past eight years. Reporter Maan Macapagal and her cameraman Val Cuenca were also kidnapped on the island while working on exclusive news on the Abu Sayyaf.
Independent journalist Arlyn dela Cruz was also kidnapped in Sulu while covering the Abu Sayyaf. Another photojournalist Gene Boyd Lumawag was shot in the head by an Abu Sayyaf militant while shooting the sunset in Sulu several years ago.
