| ABUS FREE
2-MAN TV CREW Muslim rebels on
Saturday freed two Filipino journalists kidnapped in Patikul, Sulu, five days ago while
reporting on a hostage saga in the southern Philippines for the country’s top
television channel, local officials said.
The kidnappers
of ABS-CBN cameraman Percival Cuenca and reporter Maan Macapagal were a “lost command”
group headed by a Commander Arafath, according to government chief negotiator Robert
Aventajado.
President Estrada,
interviewed by CNN while on a working visit to the US, said he expects more hostages to be
released in the next two weeks, but warned that negotiations remain “complicated.”
Officials said
rebels handed over Cuenca and Macapagal to Sulu Vice Gov. Munib Estino, an emissary of
Aventajado.
The released
ABS-CBN employees, abducted on July 24 while reporting on the kidnapping of hostages from
a Malaysian diving resort by the Abu Sayyaf rebels more than three months ago, were later
flown from Jolo to the nearby city of Zamboanga.
The duo said they
would continue their coverage of the hostage crisis.
Aventajado
traveled to Jolo with ABS-CBN officials, including board chairman Eugenio Lopez III and
senior vice president Angelo Castro Jr. to receive Cuenca and Macapagal.
It was not
immediately clear whether ransom was paid.
‘Fair game’
Aventajado said he
was very happy over the release, adding that he hoped no more journalists were kidnapped
trying to cover the crisis.
He urged all
journalists to leave Jolo and instead cover the hostage crisis from Zamboanga, a city
about 150 kilometers away. He warned that “everyone is fair game” for the
rebels.
The two
journalists had established contacts with the rebels in their coverage of the abduction of
21 people, mostly foreigners, from Sipadan, a nearby Malaysian diving resort on April 23.
From the original
Sipadan hostages, the rebels have so far released one German and six Malaysians.
The rebels later
also seized a German and three French journalists. Andreas Lorenz of Germany’s Der
Spiegel magazine was released Thursday after 25 days in captivity.
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.
More releases
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 in a government
radio program.
About P190 million
had 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.
The Abu Sayyaf is
a loose collection of several hundred heavily armed rebels divided into several bands,
each with different commanders. The group has been accused of banditry, kidnappings and
numerous attacks on Christians.
The rebels are
still holding three other Malaysians, two other Germans, two Finns, two South Africans,
three French including a Lebanon-born woman who was given French citizenship while in
custody and two Filipinos.
Ransom
There was no
immediate word if any ransom was paid for the release of Cuenca and Macapagal. Local
officials have insisted the rebels have been demanding $1 million for each Caucasian
hostage and P15 million ($333,000) for each of the Malaysians and Filipinos.
But Aventajado has
repeatedly said that no money has been handed over to the rebels and that his negotiations
do not include any talks on ransoms.
Still, the ransom
reports have persisted and some officials have referred obliquely to the problems of
giving the rebels money that they could well use to fund the purchase of more arms.
“This is a
situation wherein whatever we do we lose, but we know what is the truth,” Defense
Secretary Orlando Mercado said in a television interview. “So this is a welcome to
the real world. There are things that we have to do in spite of existing policies.”
In his CNN
interview, President Estrada acknowledged negotiations were difficult.
“Remember
that these people are terrorists and kidnappers,” he said. “We have to take all
precautions in negotiating with these people because they are somewhat barbaric and very
callous people. My concern, first and foremost, is the safety of the hostages.”
Foreign
governments whose nationals are involved have urged the Philippines not to use force to
secure the releases and Manila has vowed it will not.
--with reports from Faber Concepcion, Mirasol Ng-Gadil and Reuters/AP
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