'Third party negotiating Vagni's release'

MANILA, Philippines – A third party negotiator is reportedly engaged in the negotiation with the group of Albader Parad and Doctor Abu for the release of kidnapped Italian International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) volunteer Eugenio Vagni, according to a senior security official.

The official also gave assurance that Vagni is alive and well and that his wife and some of his relatives are closely monitoring the developments on the ground.

“We are hoping that everything will proceed smoothly. Sana matapos na ito,” the source said.

There were reports that one of the bargains being offered to the Abu Sayyaf group is a trade-off of Vagni for the two wives of Parad who were arrested Thursday afternoon at a Marine checkpoint along with four other Abu Sayyaf suspects in Barangay Tagbak, Indanan town.

Parad’s wives, Simang Anuddin and Rowena Aksan, are now facing illegal possession of firearms charges filed against them before a Sulu court.

The two are currently under the custody of the police and the Marines.

Security forces are optimistic that Vagni would soon be freed as negotiation is underway.

The STAR was informed yesterday by the senior security official whose group had been actively working behind the scene to “convince” Vagni’s Abu Sayyaf abductors to release him.

“We are crossing our fingers again this time that this hostage crisis would be over soon,” the source said.

Vagni, along with two other Red Cross volunteers, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipina engineer Mary Jean Lacaba, was snatched in front of the Sulu Provincial Capitol in Patikul town last Jan. 15 after inspecting a water utility project of the ICRC at the Sulu provincial jail.

Lacaba and Notter have since been freed reportedly after payment of huge amount of ransom to the Muslim extremist group.

Admitting that ransom was indeed paid, the source said that it was only for Notter because Lacaba was freed without any financial consideration.

Dozens of soldiers, civilians, Abu Sayyaf bandits, and even the police provincial commander of Sulu have been killed in the last five months of sustained military and police operations aimed at rescuing Vagni from his abductors in the troubled island province.