MYSTERY MAN This is a file photo taken in 2000 of Albader Parad of the Abu Sayyaf, one of alleged suspects in Ces Drilon’s abduction. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
By Julie Alipala Mindanao Bureau First Posted 01:12:00 06/12/2008
ZAMBOANGA CITY—A team of Tausug leaders is negotiating with Moro bandits for the release of broadcast journalist Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN and her two cameramen who were abducted along with their guide in Maimbung, Sulu, on Sunday.
Senior Supt. Julasirim Kasim, police chief of Sulu, confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) that a negotiating team composed of “well-meaning persons—leaders and influential” had been formed. But he refused to name its members.
“These are leaders of Sulu. They can talk and negotiate with the kidnappers … and they can receive feelers so we can get good reports regarding the situation of the captives,” Kasim said.
He said the team had been given seven days to make contact with the kidnappers: “In a week’s time, dapat may good news sila.”
The captives have been transferred to another armed group in Mount Tumatangis in Indanan town, according to Kasim.
“We were informed that Ces’ group was brought to Tumatangis at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday. We made the confirmation at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday when I went to Maimbung,” Kasim said.
Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and their guide, Mindanao State University Prof. Octavio Dinampo, were abducted in Barangay Labbah in Maimbung by a group of armed men led by Gafur Jumdail, purportedly of the Moro National Liberation Front’s Misuari breakaway group.
Police reported on Tuesday that the captives were brought to the Karawan Complex in the middle of the towns of Maimbung, Indanan, Patikul, Parang and Talipao.
Merged group
But Kasim Wednesday cited reports saying that the captives had been taken to Indanan and were now with armed men led by Albader Parad, purportedly of the Abu Sayyaf.
Kanain Isnaji, executive secretary of Indanan Mayor Isnaji Alvarez, also confirmed receiving such reports, but said Jumdail and Parad belonged to the same group.
Military and police sources say the abduction was carried out by the Abu Sayyaf which had been involved in previous high-profile kidnappings.
“They (Jumbail and Parad) just merged to share resources,” Isnaji said.
The captives’ transfer to another location was probably to make them “feel quite comfortable,” Kasim said.
“In the Karawan Complex, there is no water. In Tumatangis, they have water, food,” he said.
But Sulu Rep. Yusop Jikiri saw the transfer of the captives from one group to another as a bad sign.
“That’s not good, and it’s even worse if ABS-CBN is directly talking to the kidnappers,” he said.
Jikiri worked for the safe release of GMA-7 reporter Carlo Lorenzo and his cameraman Gilbert Ordiales six days after their abduction in 2002.
“We sought the approval of GMA-7, the national government and the military for local officials to deal with the kidnappers,” he said.
As negotiator and Sulu governor at that time, Jikiri did not allow GMA-7 management to deal directly with the kidnappers. Even soldiers of Task Force Comet were ordered to stay away from the area where Lorenzo and Ordiales were being held.
Not a good sign
“What I observed is that ABS-CBN is directly [involved] in the negotiation, and it’s not a good sign. It may invite more groups to [take part in the ransom],” Jikiri said.
“ABS-CBN should have tapped a trusted leader here who is also acceptable to lawless groups or kidnappers,” he said.
Another piece of unsolicited advice from Jikiri: “Never ever deploy Marines near the kidnappers’ suspected lair. If they do that, they [eliminate] any possible line of communication. The presence of civilians or villagers is a great help in the negotiation. Civilian residents are afraid of soldiers.”
Maimbung Mayor Najib Maldisa said a number of his constituents had expressed willingness to help find the captives.
“Some residents have volunteered to help locate Drilon and her crew, but I advised them to first locate the driver who, until now, is still at large,” Maldisa said.
The mayor was referring to the driver of the Tamaraw pickup that Drilon and company were riding in when abducted on Sunday.
The driver and a dispatcher were also taken captive but were released on Monday morning, Maldisa had said earlier.
Dinampo as ‘suspect’
Kasim said Professor Dinampo was still not being considered a victim “because we got reports he was already released along with the driver known only as ‘Maming.’”
But Kasim admitted that police still could not locate the driver, the dispatcher and Dinampo, if indeed he had been released.
(Mayor Maldisa had said earlier that Dinampo was not released along with the driver and dispatcher.)
But even if he is still with Drilon and her crew, Dinampo “remains a suspect,” Kasim said. “This professor knows the situation in the area, so how come he has to bring Madam Ces? What’s his motive?”
Fatma Dinampo, the professor’s daughter, said the police should explain why her father had become a suspect.
“My father is not a bad person. So many peace groups have expressed concern over his fate. We don’t have money for ransom,” Fatma said, adding:
“What do they want to prove? What is their motive against my dad?”
Congressman Jikiri vouched for Dinampo’s integrity, saying the professor was a credible peace advocate and was responsible for the resolution of conflict among warring clans and families.
“He is a respected educator, a man of peace, but he has no deep understanding of the culture [of the Abu Sayyaf] because he has never been a combatant,” Jikiri said.
‘Victim-blaming’
The lawmaker said that like Drilon, Dinampo was a victim.
“The difference is that Drilon is prominent and Dinampo is not because he is a native of Sulu,” Jikiri said.
Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, secretary general of the Mindanao People’s Caucus which Dinampo heads, dismissed the report that he had been released.
“We find this report very disturbing and can only complicate an already confusing situation,” said Arnado, who called on “all law enforcers and our leaders to avoid victim-blaming.”
“Obviously, this [victim-blaming] will not expedite the release of the kidnap victims,” she said.
The Citizen’s Peace Watch (CPW), a coalition of about 20 non-government organizations working for peace nationwide, expressed concern over suggestions that Dinampo could be part of the plan to kidnap Drilon and her crew.
“Very little is known about what has happened. And yet, even as the lives of Professor Dinampo and the others are on the line, insinuations about his role in this incident have reached our attention. Some security officials seem to be more concerned about blaming rather than saving the victims,” said Herbert Docena of Focus Global, a CPW member.
Docena said he and his colleagues knew Dinampo as “a respected academic and concerned citizen who has been tirelessly campaigning for peace in Mindanao and in the country.”
Said Fr. Angel Calvo, convenor of the Peace Advocate Zamboanga (PAZ): “We are very concerned that some of our friends in the media have fallen for the line that Drilon, Encarnacion and Valderama are the only ones kidnapped, reinforcing the PNP’s insinuation that Professor Octa could be part of the kidnappers.”
Network policy
In Manila, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. said it would not pay ransom in exchange for the release of Drilon and her crew.
The network said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon that it would “abide by its policy not to pay ransom because this would embolden kidnap-for-ransom groups to abduct other journalists, putting more lives at risk.”
After initially saying that the disappearance of Drilon and her crew was a “missing persons” case, the network admitted that the three were kidnap-for-ransom victims.
“ABS-CBN is doing everything it can to help the families of its kidnapped journalists through this harrowing ordeal … We ask the nation for your prayers and request colleagues in media to join [us] in condemning this unconscionable attack against journalists,” the network said.
(According to an Agence France-Presse report, the Abu Sayyaf bandits who kidnapped ABS-CBN staffers Val Cuenca and Maan Macapagal in July 2000 were paid P6 million in exchange for the latter’s release.)
Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police, confirmed that talks were being conducted for the release of the captives.
“There are negotiations ongoing,” Bartolome told reporters in Camp Crame. He declined to elaborate except to say that the negotiators had “a good grasp of the situation.”
Bartolome also said the term “negotiations” could mean many things, including inquiries as to the location of the captives.
He added that police were also trying to identify the group holding the ABS-CBN personnel, if indeed they were being held against their will.
But Bartolome stressed that the PNP was still treating the abduction as a “missing persons” case, and that no ransom demand had been received at press time.
“It is the policy of the government not to allow any ransom to be delivered to any group. We will continue to pursue this policy,” he said. With a report from Alcuin Papa in Manila
Copyright 2008 Mindanao Bureau. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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