Negotiators see hostages freed today, save for
last-minute hitches
GOVERNMENT
negotiators said yesterday they were preparing for the release of six Europeans and one
Filipino held hostage for months by the Abu Sayyaf bandits but were worried about
last-minute hitches.
“This is
exactly a situation where you hope for the best and expect the worst,” said an
official on the negotiating panel. “Anything can happen at this point. This is crunch
time.”
The Muslim
terrorists have missed many previous deadlines.
Nevertheless,
chief hostage negotiator Robert Aventajado said he expected the Abu Sayyaf faction of
Ghalib “Robot” Andang and Mujahib Susukan to release the hostages in Sulu today.
However, as plans
now stand, Aventajado and other members of the team will fly to Jolo this morning for the
expected release, negotiators said.
The seven hostages
include a Filipino resort worker and four Europeans—two Finns, a German and a
Frenchman—who were vacationing on the Malaysian diving spot of Sipadan when kidnapped
by the Abu Sayyaf on April 23.
The other two are
French television journalists abducted in Jolo, 960 kms. (600 miles) south of Manila, on
July while they were covering the hostage crisis.
At least 16 others
kidnapped on Sipadan and a third member of the French television crew have been released.
Local officials say ransoms amounting to millions of dollars have been paid.
US hostage
A separate faction—led
by Khaddafy Janjalani and Akdam Tillao alias Abu Sabaya, self-proclaimed Abu Sayyaf leader
and spokesman, respectively — is holding an American kidnapped last week and parallel
negotiations are going on for his release.
The rebels had
demanded three Muslim militants jailed in the United States for the 1993 bombing of New
York’s World Trade Center be freed in exchange for Jeffrey Schilling, a 24-year-old
from Oakland, California.
Sabaya had earlier
been reported of asking a $10-million ransom for the American captive but the United
States said it would not pay ransom or release prisoners for Schilling’s freedom.
Negotiators said
they had heard Schilling was being held in a jungle hut in the interior of Jolo and that
his hands had been bound with twine because he had hit out at his abductors.
But Press
Secretary Ricardo Puno told reporters: “That is all unconfirmed news. I have heard
that he is being allowed to exercise daily. But the main thing, he is not being treated
roughly.”
Vice-Governor
Munib Estino, a senior official based in Jolo, has been designated as the government
negotiator for Schilling and has been quoted as saying that he expected the American to be
released within 10 days. But Puno said he did not know the basis for Estino’s
optimism.
The local official
clarified yesterday he was misquoted and that what he meant was Schilling’s release
would be fast track if and when both sides reach an early agreement on the demands of the
bandits.
Negotiator
Estino also
declared his readiness to quit as negotiator in reaction to the reported preferrence of
the bandits to deal with negotiator from the national government, but just the same, he
said he has tapped the services of three emissaries to help him negotiate Schilling’s
release.
He said his
emissaries have been cleared by the Cabinet’s Cluster E, which handles national
security-related issues. His effectiveness as negotiator has been weakened by his
rejection by the Janjalani-Sabaya faction.
Sabaya demanded
last week the replacement of Estino by a national government official or by any
personality of national stature, naming President Estrada’s brother-in-law Raul de
Guzman or friend, Danding Cojuangco as potential negotiators.
-- Reuters, AP
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