Witness admits giving P1-M ransom to Abus

A witness in a joint House-Senate investigation admitted yesterday that he paid P1 million in ransom for the release of his sister-in-law kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from a resort in Palawan last May. But the witness absolved the military of any involvement.

Travel magazine publisher Buddy Recio of Batangas told the House-Senate committees on national defense that he paid Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya P1 million for the release of his sister-in-law Angie Montealegre who was kidnapped along with him, his son RG and 14 others at Dos Palmas, an upscale resort on Arreceffi Island in Palawan.

Among the original kidnap victims, only American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham are still in Abu Sayyaf hands.

At the same hearing, Sen. Panfilo Lacson charged that Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao was very close to two people who allegedly facilitated the payment of ransom for some of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap victims.

Lacson said he would present the kidnap victim in an executive session of the two committees.

Recio was the first witness to openly affirm that he paid ransom to the terrorist group. Other released kidnap victims, including real estate magnate Reghis Romero II, have steadfastly maintained that they "escaped" and that no ransom was paid.

Recio said that his son RG was allowed to join Romero and the latter’s companion, Rizza Santos, without paying any ransom when the three allegedly escaped from the Jose Torres General Hospital in Lamitan, Basilan on June 2, 2001.

Recio said that he was freed but he had to raise ransom for the release of his sister-in-law.

"The transaction was made directly with the Abu Sayyaf. There was no in-between," he told the committees headed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay.

He said that the payment was made on Aug. 30, 2001 through a courier, but he lamented that his sister-in-law was released only 45 days after the payment of the ransom.

Pichay said that Recio’s admission confirms what the public had suspected all along.

"Nobody believed that no ransom was paid in the first place," Pichay said.

The joint hearing was called upon the request of the House panel who wanted to hear Sen. Sergio Osmeña III explain his claim that the military was involved in ransom payments. Osmeña even asked Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, the Armed Forces chief of staff, to resign after the two denied the charges.

Yesterday’s hearing, however, saw no military links in the payment of ransom, nor in innuendoes that the military officials were given millions of pesos to allow the Abu Sayyaf to escape from the Jose Torres Hospital in Lamitan town where they were cornered.

The two committees went on executive session after hearing the testimony of Recio.

Meanwhile, Lacson said Tiglao is "very close" to two people who allegedly facilitated the payment of P4.7 million in ransom money to the Abu Sayyaf.

He said he talked the other night with a kidnap victim and two of her relatives and they claimed that two people close to Tiglao facilitated the negotiation and the payment of the ransom money.

He said that the two, whom he identified as George Vabiera and Steve Sano, are often seen at Malacañang and are close associates of Tiglao.

"The government, the administration knew all along that money changed hands," he said.

He claimed that Tiglao preempted his effort to release the Burnham couple because Tiglao knew that ransom was paid in previous releases of kidnap victims.

Lacson said that the kidnap victim and the two relatives he had talked with are most willing to testify before the joint hearing, provided this is an executive session and the venue is not the Senate.

"They are apprehensive of their security," he said.