| FOREIGN
JOURNALISTS HEED ADVICE OF NEGOTIATORS, MOVE OUT OF JOLO JOLO—Journalists working
for foreign news agencies departed Sunday from Jolo, the southern Philippine island where
Muslim extremists are holding 29 hostages, after officials said their safety could not be
guaranteed.
Instead, the
news agencies will cover the hostage crisis mainly from Zamboanga City, about 150
kilometers away. Local stringers based in Jolo will also provide information.
The decision to
pull out the last 10 reporters, photographers and television crew members employed by the
foreign news agencies came after police officials warned of increasing lawlessness and of
kidnapping threats against some of the journalists.
Chief government
hostage negotiator Robert Aventajado also urged all journalists to leave Jolo, warning
that “everyone is fair game” for the rebels.
On Saturday,
Muslim rebels freed two journalists working for ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ largest TV
network, who were kidnapped five days earlier by a splinter group of the Abu Sayyaf, a
loose collection of several hundred heavily armed Muslim rebels.
ABS-CBN pulled the
rest of its staff from Jolo to Zamboanga after the kidnapping.
“I think it
is best that the journalists stay here in Zamboanga because in Jolo, it’s really
become a no man’s land,” ABS-CBN board chairman Eugenio Lopez III said Saturday.
On Thursday,
rebels freed a German reporter, Andreas Lorenz of Der Spiegel magazine, after 25 days in
captivity.
Three French TV
journalists remain in rebel captivity.
A group of 10
European journalists were also abducted June 2 when they visited an Abu Sayyaf hideout but
were released about 12 hours later after paying a $25,000 ransom.
All of the
journalists were seized when they attempted to visit rebel camps to interview a group of
21 hostages kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf on April 23 from Sipadan Island, a Malaysian
diving resort.
From the original
Sipadan hostages, the rebels have so far released one German and six Malaysians.
Aside from the
French journalists, three French, three Malaysians, two Germans, two Finns, two South
Africans and two Filipinos are still in captivity. The rebels are also holding 12 Filipino
members of a Christian evangelical group.
Aventajado said he
has spoken with a go-between for the rebels who told him the three remaining Malaysians
may be freed next week and “the other foreigners would be released soon.”
“I am very
optimistic that we will be able to resolve this problem,” he said on a government
radio program.
About P190 million
($4.2 million) has been paid for the releases of the German and the six Malaysians from
the Sipadan group despite the government’s official no-ransom policy, Philippine
military officials said.
Meantime,
charismatic leader Bro. Mike Velarde last night led the 50,000 members of the religious
group El Shaddai in prayers for the safety of fellow evangelist Wilde Almeda, who along
with 11 of his “prayer warriors” are also being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf
in the mountains of Jolo, Sulu.
At the start of
his two-and-a-half hour “healing message” Velarde also urged the people to pray
for the success of the mission of Almeda’s group: to seek the release of the hostages
through prayers.”
“Let us pray
not only for the safety of Pastor Wilde Almeda and his group, but also for the success of
the noble mission they set out to achieve,” Velarde said.
-- AP
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