Negotiators offer help to family of kidnapped mayor

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Many individuals are offering help to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf in behalf of kidnapped Naga, Zamboanga Sibugay Mayor Gemma Adana, a Naga official said.

“We have learned that there are so many individuals approaching the Adana family and presenting themselves as negotiators,” Naga Councilor Julius Cayon, who also heads the town’s Crisis Management Committee, said by phone.

READ: Zamboanga Sibugay town mayor abducted from own home

But Cayon did not say who these individuals are or if the family had granted them authority to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf.

“Since the mayor has been reportedly brought to Sulu, we no longer have access to information. The family is now handling the situation,” he added.

Cayon said the Anti-Kidnapping Group was also helping the Adana family secure the mayor’s freedom from the Abu Sayyaf – which demanded P100 million in ransom money – through negotiations.

Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of the military’s Western Mindanao Command based here, said Adana was being held by a Sulu-based faction of the Abu Sayyaf after her abduction by the Zamboanga Sibugay-based Waning Abdusalam Group (WAG).

“We have received reports since two weeks ago that she is now in the hands of the ASG,” he said.

READ: Abus holding mayor in Sulu

Guerrero also confirmed that “negotiations and being handled by the Anti Kidnapping Group (AKG) under the Philippine National Police.”

He said the military was working closely with the police and the AKG for the safe rescue of Adana and also of the three foreign captives remaining in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf.

Among them was birdwatcher and Dutch national Ewold Horn, who was kidnapped in Tawi-Tawi in 2012. Horn’s companion, Lorenzo Vinciguerra had escaped from the bandit group in December last year.

Senior Supt. Angelito Casimiro, Zamboanga City police director, said the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf was also holding 73-year old Korean Hong Nwi Seong, who was abducted from RT Lim town in Zamboanga Sibugay on January 24.

Guerrero said the third foreigner being held in Sulu is Fujian Yahong Lim Tan, who was kidnapped in Isabela City along with her mother, Dina, on May 22, 2014. Dina Tan had since been freed but the bandit group held on to her daughter.