19 July 2000 - ABS-CBN

MALACAÑANG, (ABS-CBN) - Chief government negotiator Robert Aventajado expressed optimism on Tuesday that Abu Sayyaf hostage-takers in Sulu would soon release four female hostages, even as he hoped that releases would be done in bigger batches.

During a press briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday, Aventajado hinted the bandits would finally release the hostages but refused to give a time frame.

Aventajado said the Abu Sayyaf may release four female hostages including a Filipino on or before President Estrada leaves for an official visit to the United States on July 24.

"Ayokong maglagay ng deadline, mahirap baka mapako ako doon. Hindi ko binabanggit sa kanila yung July 24 baka pahirapan nila ako," the chief negotiator said.

[I don't want to set a deadline, it's difficult to be nailed to it. I have not mentioned to them (Abu Sayyaf) the July 24 (deadline) because they might give me a hard time.]

Aventajado said he was assured by Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang alias Commander Robot that they will soon release the female hostages.

Andang, however, did not say if they would release them together or one by one.

Hopeful four
Filipino hostage Aida Dablos is expected to be released with Lebanese Marie Moabes, French Sonya Wendling, and South African Monique Strydom.

"Aida is a Filipino. She's part of the first batch that Commander Robot told us that we will discuss for the first batch to be released," Aventajado said.

The Abu Sayyaf has so far released two Malaysian hostages and ailing German lady Renate Wallert.

Their release had been attributed by Aventajado to the effort of the "go-between" that he and Andang have recently agreed on.

Two emissaries have been included in the negotiations to act as mediators for government negotiators and Andang.

Aventajado said the identity of the two emissaries, whom he claimed to be both effective, will not be revealed until all the Sulu hostages are released.

Besides the 18 remaining original hostages kidnapped from the Sipadan resort in Malaysia last April 23, three French journalists and 13 evangelists of the Jesus Miracle Crusade led by Wilde Almeda are still in the bandits' lair.

Among the 18 original hostages are two Germans, seven Malaysians, two French, two Finns, two South Africans, a Lebanese, and two Filipinos.

The Abu Sayyaf has denied abducting missing German journalist Andreas Lorenz of Der Spiegel magazine, who is reportedly a captive of a lost rebel command.

Aborted release
Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan and his vice governor Espino Munib disclosed that the release of some hostages was aborted on Tuesday because government negotiators and the Abu Sayyaf could not agree on the number of hostages to be freed.

ABS-CBN sources said that the anticipated release was complicated by a disagreement over the alleged ransom to be paid.

Governor Tan said seven Malaysians and two Filipinos in Sulu, as well as three other hostages of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, were being considered for release.

A chartered plane from Malaysia had reportedly been waiting in Sulu but flew to Zamboanga when the anticipated release was aborted.

Although the government professes to have stuck to its no-ransom policy, it has declined to say whether foreign governments were paying ransoms to resolve the Sulu hostage crisis.

The Malaysian government earlier expressed willingness to pay a ransom for the release of its captive nationals.

Two Malaysians have been freed since June 23.

Home at last
Renate Wallert, the ailing German hostage freed by Abu Sayyaf rebels on Monday after 12 weeks in captivity, arrived home Tuesday (Manila time) on a regular Lufthansa flight from Manila.

The Boeing 747 touched down at the Frankfurt airport at about 6 a.m. (0400 GMT).

Wallert, a teacher from Goettingen in north Germany, flew first-class and was accompanied by a doctor.

She was joined on the aircraft by her elder son Dirk, 30, an industrial manager from Düsseldorf, after other plane passengers got off.

Their reunion took place away from dozens of television cameras waiting near the jumbo jet.

Renate Wallert, 57, disembarked 20 minutes later, walking rather unsteadily but helped by her son, then immediately boarded an airport bus while the press was kept at a distance.

A German border police helicopter then whisked them off to an undisclosed destination, probably a clinic where Wallert, obviously suffering from high blood pressure, anxiety, and amoebic dysentery could be given medical and psychological treatment.

Her second son Marc, 27, and her 57-year-old husband Werner remained in captivity in Jolo.

After Mrs. Wallert was released on Monday, Dirk Wallert said in a SAT-1 television interview that he "rejoiced to have at least my mother."

"This report on the freeing of my mother was so sudden that at first I could hardly bring myself to believe it," he said.

At Goettingen, a service was held on Monday night in an evangelical church, as neighbors continued to lay flowers in front of the Wallert home.

Wallert was the first European to be freed by the extremist Abu Sayyaf group which styles itself as a separatist guerrilla group.

Wallert, along with 18 other tourists and resort workers were kidnapped in the Malaysian island of Sipadan on April 23 and taken to Jolo by boat. Two Malaysians among the original group were freed over the past month.

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