Terror group asks P10M ransom: Abu Sayyaf holds Ces Drilon captive
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Security forces were searching Monday for ABS-CBN senior reporter Ces Drilon and two cameramen believed to have been abducted by Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu while pursuing a story.
Drilon and her two crewmen were intercepted Sunday in volatile Jolo island’s Maimbung township by armed men under Albader Parad, an Abu Sayyaf leader in the area.
Police Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao said the reporter and cameramen arrived Saturday at the invitation of Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo “to cover a special event.”
On Sunday morning, Dinampo picked them up from a university hostel, and armed men identified as being under Parad’s command intercepted them as their vehicle passed through Kulasi village, Goltiao said.
He said he ordered town police chiefs to determine Drilon’s whereabouts.
The Maimbung police chief reported sightings in the Kulasi area of Parad and of people with a video camera inside a vehicle.
“We convened the provincial crisis management committee to send feelers to negotiate with the abductors, but the abductors have not yet said anything,” Goltiao said by telephone.
ABS-CBN executives have refused to comment, saying the network would issue a statement early today.
Drilon and her cameramen and their companion Dinampo were abducted in the village of Kulasi in the town of Maimbung. Drilon’s team arrived in Sulu on Saturday from Zamboanga City, said Supt. Julasirim Kasim, the provincial police chief.
“We received reports that the four were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf led by Albader Parad,” Kasim told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said Drilon’s group, from the television giant ABS-CBN, was believed taken to the hinterlands of Indanan town. Dinampo teaches at the Mindanao State University and is said to be helping Drilon in her coverage. The identities of the two cameramen were not immediately known.
Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan convened the Crisis Management Committee to address the situation.
“Governor Sakur Tan is very worried over the safety of the victims and we are doing everything to locate them,” Kasim said.
Drilon’s group is billeted at the Sulu State College hostel in Jolo town where they took two rooms and left on Saturday afternoon after ordering foods good for 20 people, the local police chief Insp. Usman Pingay.
“We don’t know what really happened and why Drilon went without security to Maimbung,” he said in a separate interview.
A reliable source also confirmed the kidnapping.
He said the team of Drilon “rejected military advice and proceeded to the Abu Sayyaf lair to scope an interview with Omar Patek but before reaching the cave of Patek, while along Kulasi, Maimbung, ASG notorious leader Al Badir Parad intercepted them and took Ces and her cameraman hostage. Initial negotiation is P10 million a ransom demand for her safe release.”
A hotel staff said he saw Drilon hurriedly left and even asked her where she was going. “She was really in a hurry and I even asked her where they were going and Ces Drilon only replied that they would just be nearby. They never came back since Saturday.”
ABS-CBN television did not give any statement about the abduction. But Drilon’s group was the second from the television network to be kidnapped in Sulu in the past eight years – reporter Maan Macapagal and her cameraman Val Cuenca were also kidnapped on the island while working on exclusive news on the Abu Sayyaf.
Independent journalist Arlyn dela Cruz was also kidnapped in Sulu while covering the Abu Sayyaf. Another photojournalist Gene Boyd Lumawag was shot in the head by an Abu Sayyaf militant while shooting the sunset in Sulu several years ago.
The Abu Sayyaf had also seized foreign journalists covering the group’s kidnapping of 21 Asian and Western holidaymakers from Sabah. Most of those kidnapped were freed in exchange for ransom.
Meanwhile, the Mindanao Peoples Caucus has issued a statement condemns kidnapping.
“We, the officers and members of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus strongly condemn the abduction of our Chairman, Professor Octavio Dinampo, Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN and her crew as we appeal to their abductors to immediately release them unconditionally,” said lawyer Mary Ann Aranado secretary-general of MPC.
“Prof. Octavio is a credible and well-respected leader from Sulu and a leading peace advocate in Mindanao. He has been in the forefront of peace advocacy, good governance and relief and rehabilitation efforts in the conflict affected areas in Mindanao. As a Convener of the Bantay Ceasefire, Prof. Octavio has exemplified the ideals of active non-violence and the values of respect, tolerance and dialogue of life and faith,” she said.
“We appeal to the law enforcers and the military to exhaust all peaceful and traditional methods of negotiation in working out the release of the kidnap victims. We also call on our religious leaders from both the Christian and Muslim faiths to extend whatever possible support. Let this crisis see the strength of our solidarity and dialogue as brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” she added. — with reports from
The Ces Drilon Abduction and Eventual Release: What do you think?
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