| HOSTAGES'
RELEASE ABORTED I'll Get Them, Lacson Vows
By Manny B. Marinay and Marian Trinidad
THE Jolo-based
Abu Sayyaf terrorists aborted anew the release of seven Malaysian hostages when
negotiators failed to deliver the P105-million ransom they demanded.
This was the
second time the bandits balked at freeing their Malaysian captives.
The hostages
were originally scheduled to be released on Monday, but the Abu Sayyaf insisted at the
last minute on raising their ransom demand from P3 million ($67,500) to P15 million
($337,500) for each, negotiators said.
The negotiators
returned to the rebels’ hide-out in Jolo yesterday to negotiate further. The outcome
of the negotiations was not immediately clear.
Earlier yesterday,
news broke out the hostages have been released but officials said the reports are not
true.
Military
intelligence reports said the release of the hostages was aborted by the quarrel over
money among the Abu Sayyaf leaders.
Philippine
National Police (PNP) chief Director General Panfilo Lacson, meantime, vowed yesterday he
would hunt down the Muslim bandits once all the foreign and Filipino hostages have been
released.
“This is a
different story. We will not let them get away with what they have done. We
will just wait until the hostage crisis is over,” Lacson said in press conference in
Greenhills, San Juan.
Ret. Maj. Gen.
Guillermo Ruiz, security adviser to the negotiating panel, traveled to Jolo island, where
Abu Sayyaf rebels are holding several dozen hostages, to verify the reports of the
Malaysians’ release, which came from Jolo police intelligence sources.
“The
result of my verification is that the reported release is negative,” Ruiz told The
Associated Press.
Jolo police
reports have frequently been inaccurate in the past. Negotiators are still working to free
seven Malaysians held by the bandits and reports of their release are not true, the
government’s top negotiator said yesterday.
“It’s
still in the works,” chief negotiator Robert Aventajado said. “My people are
still out there.”
The Malaysians are
part of a group of 21 mostly foreign hostages abducted by the Abu Sayyaf rebels nearly
three months ago from a Malaysian diving resort.
Earlier reports
reaching Camp Aguinaldo said the Malaysians were to be turned over to an emissary (Atty.
James Alam, a lawyer of former presidential adviser Lee Ping Wee) in Barangay Taglibi,
Patikul, Jolo, in exchange for the P30-million he was carrying.
A faction of the
Abu Sayyaf rejected the amount and insisted on the new ransom demand they demanded.
The Malaysians
still held by the bandits were Fong Yin Ken, 40; Kua Yoo Loong, 20; Vincent Kwong, Lee Hok
Liong, 20; Francis Masangkim 29; Basilius Lim and Balm Krishnar Nair, all from Sabah.
Remaining
hostages
The Abu Sayyaf had
earlier freed two Malaysian hostages—a policeman released last Friday and a forest
ranger freed last month.
On Monday, the
rebels released their first European captive, an ailing German woman.
Since the 21
hostages were abducted on April 23 from the Sipadan diving resort being claimed by
Malaysia and Indonesia, the Jolo-based bandits have kidnapped several other groups and now
hold about 31 people following the Malaysians’ reported release.
The remaining
hostages consist of five French, three Germans, two Finns, two South Africans, a Lebanese
and 18 Filipinos. All but a German journalist are believed to be held by the Abu Sayyaf, a
band of Muslim extremists accused of a wide range of kidnappings and attacks on Christians
in the past.
Two groups of
negotiators are working for their release. One consisting of former presidential adviser
Wee Dee Ping and several Malaysian officials and businessmen has negotiated to free the
Malaysians and three Filipinos kidnapped on nearby Basilan island, while a second led by
Aventajado is working to free the others.
The government has
an official no-ransom policy. The Malaysian negotiators, however, confirmed that ransoms
had been paid for the two Malaysians who were earlier released.
Turning point
The release of
German hostage Renate Wallert appeared to mark a turning point in the negotiations.
Aventajado said
Tuesday he expects the four remaining female hostages from Sipadan will be freed soon.
Ghalib Andang, an
Abu Sayyaf commander holding most of the hostages, has given up an earlier demand that an
independent nation be created in Mindanao for the country’s Muslim minority, but is
continuing to demand $1 million for each European hostage, a government negotiator said.
PNP move
Lacson said the
police will start to move against the Abu bandits once all the 18 Sipadan hostages,
evangelist Wilde Almeda and 12 other Jesus Miracle Crusade members and three foreign
journalists have been freed.
The PNP chief
had earlier asked the Cabinet Cluster E to allow the elite Presidential
Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) to take over the hostage crisis.
He also
recommended a commando-type assault against the terrorists to rescue the hostages.
with a report from AP
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