3 workers rescued from Abu Sayyaf in Sulu
JOLO - Three Filipino
Christian quarrymen abducted by a faction of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf in Sulu were
rescued unharmed yesterday after a gunfight with the rebels, police said.
Informers alerted police
mid-morning that Abu Sayyaf gunmen had brought the three to an isolated hut in a village
in the town of Patikul, where a team of heavily armed police commandos backed by an
armored vehicle was immediately dispatched.
Jolo police chief Chief
Inspector Mohamad Nur Alamiya said the police took the rebels by surprise, triggering a
brief firefight although no one was reported hurt.
The rebels, about 14 of them,
later fled and abandoned the three when reinforcements arrived, he said.
The hostages, Samuel Ranillano,
40, Renante dela Cruz, 20, and a man identified only as Iking, 51, were snatched at
gunpoint by Abu Sayyaf members on Aug. 1 while hauling sand from the coastal village of
Kaunayan in Patikul town on Tuesday.
Also yesterday, Philippine
troops clashed with about 50 Muslim rebels who attacked a major rebel camp that had been
captured by soldiers, killing six of the guerrillas, a military official said Sunday.
The brief clash took place
Saturday in Camp Abubakar, the former headquarters of the separatist Moro Islamic
Liberation Front rebels, which the military captured in June, said army Maj. Gen. Gregorio
Camiling.
About 50 MILF rebels fired
rifle-propelled grenades on a detachment set up by army soldiers in Camp Abubakar in
southern Maguindanao province, injuring one army officer, according to Camiling.
The soldiers returned fire,
killed six rebels in the ensuing firefight and forced the rest of the guerrillas to
withdraw, he said.
On the Sulu kidnaping, the
three kidnaping victims are employed by a construction supply shop in Jolo which has
concessions to quarry an area in Kaunayan, the same area where a splinter Abu Sayyaf group
earlier snatched two Filipino broadcast journalists who were later freed.
The rebels had reportedly
demanded some P1.5 million $ 33,333) for the three quarrymen.
Reports that one of the three
had been released last month was nothing but a ploy to fool authorities, Alamiya said.
"We had to eat bananas for
one month and most of the time we did not have rice," Ranillano told AFP as tears
ringed his eyes.
"At one time they invited
us to join their group and we were forced to say yes, just to prevent us from getting
harmed," he said.
The three looked haggard and
tired but would ocassionally nervously laugh as they recounted their ordeal at the
construction supply shop where police took them for debriefing and where their relatives
were expected to arrive later Sunday.
Two other factions of the Abu
Sayyaf still hold six Europeans, an American and 15 other Filipinos.
It was not clear how the daring
police rescue would affect ongoing negotiations to free the other hostages.
Philippine negotiators had
earlier asked both the police and the military to refrain from launching offensives
against the group in fear of jeopardizing the talks.
Raid
ZAMBOANGA CITY - The National
Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided the residence of a regional assemblyman of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) late Friday night in this city, arrested him
and confiscated six undocumented high powered firearms from him.
The raiding team, armed with a
search warrant issued by Regional Trial court (RTC) Judge Ernesto Gutierez, identified the
ARMM assemblyman as Naser Ynawat of Johnston compound, Baliwasan Tabuk in this city.
He was arrested for his failure
to present them the necessary supporting papers for the six high powered firearms and
ammunitions in his position.
Among the firearms that the NBI
had confiscated were one Ingram automatic rifle, one 9mm pistol, one KM90, one baby
Armalita rifle, one M203 rifle and several rounds of assorted ammunitions for different
caliber of firearms. (Nonoy Lacson)
Hospital
ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Department
of Budget and Management (DBM) is set to release early this month the P35 million pledge
by President Jose Estrada to Tawi-Tawi Gov. Hadji Sadikul Sahali for the initial
construction of the provincial hospital and 12 kilometer stretch road in Bongao,
Tawi-Tawi.
Sahali said yesterday he has
already submitted to DBM the necessary plans and programs for the twin projects in the
province last week.
The funds according to Sahali
will be release directly to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) by DBM.
(Nonoy Lacson)
Hostages
SINGAPORE (DPA) - Three
Malaysians held captive by Philippine Muslim extremists for four months described their
kidnappers as "friends" who enlightened them about their separatist cause and
taught them how to handle weapons, a news report said yesterday.
Ken Fong - freed from the
jungles of Jolo on Aug. 18 along with two others - told Singapore's Sunday Times all three
still receive telephone calls from Abu Sayyaf members and ask "how things are at the
Jolo camp" where six Europeans remain in captivity.
"We talk to them to find
out how the remaining hostages are doing and ask when they will be released," he was
quoted as saying.
Observers hope the three
Frenchmen, two Finns and one German will be freed soon under a Libyan-backed deal.
American
ZAMBOANGA (AFP) - A Philippine
negotiator said Sunday he was confident an American held hostage by Muslim extremists
would walk free within two weeks, as military and defense officials moved to verify a
report the captive had tried to broker an arms deal with the rebels.
Munib Estino, vice governor of
Sulu province which includes Jolo island where American Jeffrey Schilling is held, said he
would initiate talks as soon as President Joseph Estrada gave him the green light.
Estino was on Saturday named
lead negotiator for Schilling, who was abducted by the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf on Aug.
27 while visiting Jolo with his Muslim Filipina girlfriend.
Estino told ABS-CBN television
in Manila he was confident he was the best man for the job and expected Schilling to be
free within two weeks once negotiations officially began Sunday or Monday.
"Two weeks would be too
long to negotiate," Estino said. "In the first place, I am a native of that
province. Number two, we can readily understand each other. I know them (Abu Sayyaf) from
head to toe."
Estino earlier this year
secured the release of two Filipina teachers and a 16-year-old boy who were abducted by
the same Abu Sayyaf faction that now holds Schilling.
Abu Sabaya, a spokesman for the
faction, had threatened to behead the 24-year-old Oakland, California resident if the US
did not free Ramzi Yousef, jailed for the 1993 bombing of New York's World Trade Center.
He also denied earlier reports
that the Abu Sayyaf had asked for a $10-million ransom for Schilling.
Defense and ranking military
officials here confirmed on Sunday that they were investigating reports that Schilling had
gone to Jolo to broker an arms deal with the Abu Sayyaf before he was seized.
But Schilling's mother, Carol,
and US officials have both described Schilling as an innocent tourist who was only in the
south because he was in love.
"I beg Abu Sabayya to
release my son Jeffrey Schilling unharmed," Mrs. Schilling said over ABS-CBN
television.
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