Notter bids goodbye, unsure of return to RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Freed captive Andreas Notter said it may be hard for him to come back to the Philippines.

“Yes, I definitely love the Philippines but I do not know if I’d be coming back,” Notter said.

“It would all depend on my superiors in the ICRC (International Committee on the Red Cross), if they would assign me here again,” Notter told reporters at the Davao International Airport shortly before he took the afternoon flight to Manila for a connecting flight home to Switzerland.

“I really do not know how to call it,” the 38-year old Swiss national said of his three-month ordeal in the dense jungles of Sulu.

“Right now, I am just happy to leave, to go home,” he said.

Notter said he has no bitterness against Filipinos in spite of what happened to him in Sulu, and that it did not lessen his desire and passion to serve the Filipino people as a humanitarian aid worker.

Wearing a baseball cap and clad in a gray and black jacket, Notter appeared calm before he boarded his flight.

“I spent the past days here in Davao City trying to calm myself down. I took my rest here, ” he said.

Notter said he is looking forward to reuniting with his family and his girlfriend in Switzerland, and would have wanted to see ICRC colleague Mary Jean Lacaba.

Notter, Lacaba and Italian Eugene Vagni were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo on Jan. 15.

Lacaba was released last April 2.

“I never had the chance to see Ma’am Jean (Lacaba) although I would have loved to see her,” Notter said.

Notter stressed he had high hopes that Vagni would be released soon, stressing Vagni needed urgent medical attention.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, designated spokesman on the ICRC kidnapping crisis, said Vagni is still alive but unable to walk properly.

Vagni is reportedly suffering from hernia and needs immediate medical attention.

Arevalo said intelligence reports revealed the Abu Sayyaf has splintered into several groups, with one group taking Vagni.

“We are validating reports that the Abu Sayyaf has splintered into three groups, apparently to confuse the security forces that are tracking the kidnappers’ movements. Nonetheless, we have anticipated the possibility of the terrorists employing this tactic and have plans in place to address such contingencies and ploys,” Arevalo said.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno also confirmed reports that the kidnappers broke up into several groups, and some of the kidnappers went home after Notter was freed.

He said a group of around 50 gunmen led by Albader Parad is now holding Vagni and is proceeding to an area near Parang town.

Arevalo, on the other hand, said Vagni’s medical condition could pose more difficulties for the bandits who are forced to bodily carry the Italian.

Arevalo said Vagni’s medical condition is also the cause of concern for security forces and the crisis committee negotiating for his release. – With James Mananghaya, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Roel Pareño, Delon Porcalla, Rudy Santos