| BISHOPS TELL
NEGOTIATORS: LESS BULL, LESS MISTAKES GOVERNMENT representatives should not talk too much
while negotiating with Abu Sayyaf terrorists for the release of the 2l mostly foreign
hostages they are holding in Sulu, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) urged yesterday.
Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, CBCP president, noted
that the hostage crisis has become more complex due to the flood of speculations and
opinions from people not directly involved in the negotiations.
“The very complex combination of local and
international factors regarding the hostage-taking of foreign nationals from another
country by Filipinos is already muddled enough by speculations and private opinions,”
Quevedo said.
At Malacañang, Press Undersecretary Michael Toledo
confirmed receiving reports of the Abu Sayyaf’s new threats of execution of hostages.
The Palace “is very much aware of the threat,
that’s why the lines of communications are being kept open,” he told a press
briefing.
“By making these threats, the Abu Sayyaf is just
telling all and sundry as to what kind of group or what kind of people they actually
really are,” Toledo said.
KL offer
In a related development, Malaysia’s postal
service offered Friday to hand-deliver letters from family members to the nine Malaysians
hostages being held by Muslim extremists in a jungle camp on Jolo island in the southern
Philippines.
Shahri Jikun, an official from Post Malaysia, was
cited by the national news agency, Bernama, as saying that Philippine postal authorities
had agreed to assist in delivering the letters.
He said two Malaysian postal officers would fly to
the Philippines on Saturday and hand the letters to a postmaster in Zamboanga, the largest
city near where the captives are held, who would then find a way to pass the letters to
the hostages.
In urging more circumspection from government
officials, Quevedo stressed the preeminence of ensuring the hostages’ welfare.
This is the reason, he said, why as a bishop he has
not expressed his own personal opinion on whether or not foreign governments should pay
ransom for the release of their nationals held captive by the terrorists.
At present, Quevedo is the archbishop of Cotabato
which has been adversely affected by the ongoing strife in Mindanao.
The Catholic prelate stressed the need for secrecy or
confidentiality to ensure the success of the negotiations.
For instance, Quevedo said, only representatives of
the countries whose nationals are in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf should be made privy to
the Estrada government’s approach to the problem.
Private pundits
“As of now,” he said, “there are just
too many private pundits offering different opinions on whether ransom should be paid or
not, or whether foreign governments should be involved or not.”
At the same time, he proposed that the Philippines
and foreign governments which have a stake in the negotiations to “patiently”
work out a common position—“not only for the present case but for the future
implications of the position commonly agreed upon.”
Malaysian authorities
have expressed concern over the slow pace of negotiations for the release of the 21
hostages. They were abducted by Abu Sayyaf rebels from the Malaysian resort island of
Sipadan, off northeastern Borneo, on April 23.
-- John
Concepcion and AP
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