ZAMBOANGA CITY?The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Wednesday ordered its forces in Basilan to help find and rescue two abducted peace workers involved in humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Moro communities.

Hadji Hassan Lamla, chair of the MILF Yakan City Committee based in Basilan, said he had been instructed by the rebel group?s Central Committee ?to secure? Esperancita ?Espie? Hupida and Merlie ?Milet? Mendoza, who were taken by Abu Sayyaf members in Tipo-Tipo town in the province on Monday.

In a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net), Lamla said his men had already located the victims and their abductors, but could not make any move as they needed the coordination of the military. ?We cannot just intervene because the military might go after us,? he said in Filipino.

Army soldiers and Moro rebels are engaged in sporadic fighting in Central Mindanao after Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdulla Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo, led their followers in pillaging civilian communities in Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Sarangani last month.

Hupida, program director of the Nagdilaab Foundation Inc., and Mendoza, a volunteer who helps look for funds for humanitarian projects, were among four peace advocates seized by at least 10 Abu Sayyaf teenagers in the village of Kabangalan in Tipo-Tipo on Monday. They were on their way to Isabela City.

The foundation implements organizing, livelihood and microfinancing projects in war-torn areas in Mindanao.

Two of the victims, Ludovina Borja-Dekit of the Sustainable Health Improvement through Empowerment and Local Development (SHIELD) and driver Dionisio Estandarte, escaped later that night.

A six-man ?crisis management? team led by Nagdilaab president, Fr. Angel Calvo, requested the military to suspend its pursuit operations against the abductors to give way to negotiations for the release of Hupida and Mendoza, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesperson, said in Manila Wednesday.

Intensified monitoring

Thus, Arevalo said, the Marines had shifted to ?intensified? monitoring and intelligence gathering. ?Should there be a need to resort to military operations, the Marines are ready for immediate deployment,? he said.

Lamla said Aleem Asiz Abdul, the MILF?s vice chair for military affairs, had directed his unit to go after the Abu Sayyaf abductors led by Puruji Indama and Nurhassan Jamiri. Abdul, he said, had worked with one of the victims in several projects.

Village officials and the mayors of Tipo-Tipo, Unkaya Pukan and Albarkah have also been trying to locate the victims, Basilan Vice Gov. Al Rasheed Sakalahul said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Hupida and Mendoza, she said, ?have been serving our communities all their lives to bring peace and development, so it?s high time [that we] return the favor.?

No contact from captors

Calvo, who is also president of the Peace Advocates Zamboanga, said he was worried about the safety of the two women ?because right now we don?t even have contact with the captors or the captives.?

?We don?t know where they are and who are involved or holding them,? he said.

Lamla said he had been informed that the victims were brought from Kabangalan to a house owned by Jamiri?s family. Kabangalan and the neighboring village of Limbo Pas are known turfs of the Jamiris and Indamas, he said, and that Jamiri also has a house in Limbo Pas.

But Sakalahul said Indama and Jamiri had denied involvement in the abduction. Emissaries he sent to meet with the Abu Sayyaf leaders on Tuesday returned Wednesday and brought the news, the vice governor said.

?They did not know the whereabouts of the victims,? Sakalahul said in Filipino.

He shared the same information with members of the Provincial Crisis Management Committee, which he chairs, in a meeting Wednesday morning.

No demands

Arevalo, the Navy spokesperson, said the abductors were led by Indama and were moving on foot. They have yet to make any demands in exchange for the release of Mendoza and Hupida, he said.

Abu Sayyaf gunmen seized the two peace workers after sifting through their personal belongings and finding their identification cards, he said.

?Credit and identification cards found among personal belongings and valuables, like money, cell phones and pieces of jewelry that the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) members divested from the kidnap victims suggested who to let go and who to keep,? Arevalo said.

The other aid workers were released because they were either cash-strapped or unhealthy, and were considered a ?burden,? Arevalo said, citing what they told military officers during a debriefing. They have already been turned over to their organizations, he added.

?The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) exhorts all quarters in Basilan to help in any way they can to secure the release of the kidnap victims,? Arevalo said.

Calvo said local officials had been asked to help find the victims and identify their abductors. He said the abductors could only be looking for a ?secure place, a secure position.? With a report from Nikko Dizon in Manila