AFP rejects Abu’s P4-B demand to free hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The military on Wednesday said it would not negotiate with the bandit group Abu Sayyaf, which had demanded P4 billion for the release of three Westerners and a Filipino woman abducted in Davao del Norte province in September.

“We don’t negotiate. It’s not in our level to negotiate,” said Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.

Brig. Gen. Allan Arrojado, commander of the Joint Task Group Sulu (JTGS), said the bandits’ demand had been referred to Gen. Hernando Iriberri, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“His guidance to me is to abide or to strictly adhere to the no-ransom policy of the government and for JTGS forces to always consider the safety of kidnap victims in every rescue and focused military operation conducted,” Arrojado said.

Guerrero said the orders were for no letup in military operations against the bandits in Sulu province.

Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police, said the government had a no-ransom policy and would not negotiate.

A military official said the ransom demand was “incredible.”

Appeal for help

On Tuesday, the Abu Sayyaf posted a video on Twitter showing Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino Maritess Flor, whom the bandits snatched from the resort island of Samal in Davao del Norte on Sept. 21 and took to Sulu.

The hostages were shown crouching on a clearing with masked men standing over them and threatening to kill them with machetes. Two black flags were displayed in the background.

One of the hostages, a bearded man who identified himself as Ridsdel, appealed for help, saying their captors were demanding P1 billion for each of them.

“I appeal to the Canadian prime minister and the people of Canada, please pay this ransom as soon as possible or our lives are in great danger,” said Ridsdel, 68, a mining consultant from Canada.

“I’m also being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf group. We’re being ransomed for P1 billion each,” he said.

Another captive who identified himself as Hall also spoke, pleading for help.

“I’m being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf for P1 billion. These people are serious and very treacherous. Take them seriously. Help us. Get us out of here,” Hall said.

One of the masked men standing behind the hostages said the captives would be killed if his group’s demand was not met.

His companions then chanted, “Allahu Akbar (God is great).”

The one-minute, 27-second video was also obtained and posted on the Internet by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks terrorist activities worldwide.

Last month, the Abu Sayyaf released a longer video that showed the captives for the first time since they were taken, appealing to the Philippine and Canadian governments to heed their captors’ demands and halt a military offensive on Jolo Island.

Held in Jolo jungle

The hostages are believed to be held in the jungle in Jolo, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of bandits with links to al-Qaida and its Southeast Asian affiliate, the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah.

Guerrero said the military was working with other government agencies in analyzing the latest video and trying to establish where and when it was taken.

He said the military considered the release of the video part of the Abu Sayyaf’s strategy of gaining publicity.

“They are trying to get media attention to highlight their demands,” Guerrero said.

Former kidnap victim Octavio Dinampo, a professor at Mindanao State University who is from Sulu, said on Wednesday that he believed the hostages from Samal were being held in Sulu.

“They are in Sulu [and] I gathered that they were being secured by five groups from Patikul and Talipao. [The Abu Sayyaf] opened the line of communication two days ago,” Dinampo said.

Former priest kidnapped

Following the Sept. 21 kidnapping of the Samal group, the government tightened security in Mindanao.

But three weeks later, gunmen abducted an Italian ex-priest, Rolando del Torchio, from his pizza restaurant in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

The Abu Sayyaf is widely believed to be holding Del Torchio, but authorities have not confirmed this.

The bandits are also holding other foreign hostages, one from the Netherlands, one from Japan and two from Malaysia.

Last week, a 73-year-old South Korean man, Hong Nwi-seong, died in captivity and his body was placed in a sack and abandoned near a school in Jolo.

Last year, the Abu Sayyaf freed a German couple after spending months in captivity, and reportedly paying P270 million in ransom.

Philippine and German authorities denied any ransom was paid.

Listed as terrorists

Despite its links with al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah, the Abu Sayyaf has no known source of foreign funding.

The group survives on extortion and kidnapping for ransom. It has become notorious for attacks on foreigners, some of whom it has beheaded.

It is blacklisted by both the Philippines and the United States as a terrorist organization. With reports from AFP, AP