Philippine rebels demand $2.9m for release of hostages

JOLO, Philippines (AP)--Muslim rebels holding 29 hostages in a southern Philippine jungle have demanded 130 million pesos ($1=PHP44.7027) for the release of 13 Christian evangelists, a military official said Thursday.

The members of the Jesus Miracle Crusade have been held by Abu Sayyaf rebels since July 1, when they hiked to a guerrilla camp on Jolo island to pray for the release of 21 people earlier kidnapped from a Malaysian diving resort.

One of the evangelists, Danilo Cuarteros, was released last week with orders to produce the ransom for the group, the senior military intelligence official said.

Cuarteros is now in Manila raising the money and is expected to return to Jolo very soon, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 21 original hostages were kidnapped April from Malaysia's Sipadan resort. The rebels have already freed one German and six Malaysians from the Sipadan group after about 190 million pesos was paid, despite the government's official no-ransom policy, according to military officials.

The Abu Sayyaf is also holding three French television journalists seized July 9 while covering the hostage crisis.

Most journalists left Jolo last Sunday after police said they could not guarantee their safety following a series of grenade attacks and kidnappings of journalists by the rebels.

On Wednesday, three employees of a hardware store were abducted by the same group of gunmen that seized two Philippine television journalists last week, according to Abubakar Madangan, nephew of the store owner.

The rebels demanded 1.5 million pesos in ransom, he said.

The store owner said he will not pay the ransom and instead allow the government to solve the problem.

The two TV journalists, who work for the Philippines' ABS-CBN network, were released Saturday.

Chief government negotiator Robert Aventajado is seeking to reach a broad agreement with the rebels under which most of the remaining hostages would be freed.

The agreement would cover a number of the Abu Sayyaf's demands, including development projects for impoverished Jolo island, he said.

Aventajado met twice this week with the ambassadors of Germany, France, Finland and South Africa to discuss possible development projects and other details of the agreement.

He said the agreement would not include a ransom payment, but other negotiators have said money will be a crucial element of any settlement.

The Abu Sayyaf, a loose collection of several hundred heavily armed Muslim rebels, has demanded $1 million for each Westerner.

The remaining hostages consist of six French, three Malaysians, two Germans, two Finns, two South Africans and 14 Filipinos.

Last Thursday, rebels freed a German reporter, Andreas Lorenz of Der Spiegel magazine, after 25 days in captivity.

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