Rescue operations suspended for 2 Sayyaf hostages to allow negotiations

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Security forces halted rescue operations for the two remaining captives of the Abu Sayyaf to allow peaceful negotiations for their release.

Basilan provincial police director Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar said the provincial government is working on the safe release of Esperanza Hupida and Milet Mendoza, the two remaining aid workers kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Tipo-Tipo last Monday.

Macapantar said the Basilan Crisis Management Committee led by Vice Gov. Al-Rasheed Sakalahul has formed a negotiating team to contact the kidnappers.

“We have decided to halt any police and military rescue to allow the peaceful means in recovering the hostages,” Macapantar said.

Police and government troops, on the other hand, were ordered to stand by for deployment in case the negotiation for the safe release of the two remaining hostages fails.

Three of the five hostages were released hours after Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched them last Monday.

Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said the bandits had agreed to release the three hostages, Ludivina Dekit, Romy delos Reyes and Jun Estandarte, without ransom.

The victims are members of Christian Children’s Fund and the Nagdilaab Foundation, an organization of volunteers involved in rural development projects and livelihood assistance in Basilan.

They were on their way back to Isabela City when Abu Sayyaf gunmen blocked their convoy of vehicles last Monday.

Seven other volunteers managed to escape and reported the incident to authorities.

Arevalo said the Abu Sayyaf wanted a better bargain by holding on to the two remaining hostages.

He said that during custodial debriefing of the three released hostages, the military learned that the bandits led by Furuji Indama also wanted to keep hostages that are physically fit to move around so as not to hamper their mobility.

Dekit, one of the released hostages, said the kidnappers took all their personal belongings such as mobile phones, cash and jewelry.

“Dekit, Delos Reyes and Estandarte were released either because they’re financially (hard-up) or physically unhealthy and are therefore undue burden to (the kidnappers),” Arevalo said.

Arevalo added the identities and group affiliations of Hupida and Mendoza revealed by their ID cards and documents found in their possession led their abductors to further detain them for a better ransom bargain.

Arevalo said the military halted its rescue operations and shifted to gathering intelligence on the bandits to allow the negotiating team led by Spanish priest Fr. Angel Calvo to negotiate for the safe release of the two remaining hostages.

“Marines in the area shifted to intensified monitoring and intelligence info gathering of the movements of the kidnappers who were reportedly moving on foot in the area,” he said.

Calvo met with the officials last Tuesday during the crisis management meeting to find ways to recover the two remaining hostages.

Villagers, including the Muslim beneficiaries of the aid organization, are appealing to the Abu Sayyaf to release their remaining victims.

“We are waiting for development and possible contacts from the kidnappers. There are many people who are trying to find ways in helping the release of the hostages,” Fr. Calvo told officials.

“These victims have been working with the poor Muslim people in Basilan and we are appealing to the kidnappers to release their hostages in the spirit of Ramadan,” he said.

– With James Mananghaya