2 Agusan hostages released to get food

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur, Philippines – Two of the teachers taken hostage by Manobo tribal folk on Friday were temporarily released yesterday.

The gunmen allowed two of the hostages – Hipolito Lastimado and Diosdede Cabantac – to be “conditionally released” to fetch food, water and medicine for the remaining hostages, negotiators said.

“The hostages were temporarily released, meaning they will return to the place of the hostage takers after they get food, water and medicine,” regional police operations chief Senior Superintendent Nestor Monton Fajura said.

Fajura, however, said the local crisis management committee led by town Mayor

Alvin Magdamet negotiating the release of the hostages, has decided that they would not allow the return of the two freed hostages for health reasons.

The release of the two hostages came after the local courts allowed jailed tribal leader Ondo Perez temporarily freed to help in the negotiations.

The tribal gunmen led by Reyjoy Brital seized 14 teachers and two elementary students after a graduation ceremony in the town on Friday.

Brital had demanded the release of Perez and three other tribesmen who are being held at the Agusan del Sur jail on charges of kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms in connection with the December 2009 hostage-taking, in which 47 villagers were held for several days.

Brital had threatened to harm the hostages if their demands are not immediately met.

Fajura said negotiations initially bogged down late Saturday after Brital insisted on the release of Perez and other jailed tribesmen.

But after the court authorized the temporary release of Perez, the negotiators are hoping that the hostage crisis would end soon with the release of the teachers and the two students.

“Ondo (Perez) understands that his release is temporary and he is facing two cases, (one was) a murder case filed by one of his relatives and the December 2009 kidnapping,” Fajura explained.

Fajura also stressed the demands made by the gunmen cannot be met because the court have jurisdiction over the case of Perez.

Fajura added one of the hostages, a 10-year-old girl had fallen ill.

“Since yesterday (Saturday) the 10-year-old pupil hostage victim was suffering from fever as we are trying to give medical aid by providing her medicines since last night,” Fajura said.

Food and water were delivered Saturday to the hostage-takers, who apparently took their hostages to abandoned huts in a forested area about three kilometers from where they were kidnapped in Barangay La Purisima.

Police sharpshooters and government troops have been deployed to unspecified areas near the hostage scene, officials said.

He added the negotiators were trying to convince the gunmen to free the two children hostages in exchange for food and water.

The food was delivered to a nipa hut near the place on Saturday night where the hostages were taken but the gunmen did not agree and left the food package untouched, he said.

Fajura stressed they were exercising caution in the negotiations taking into account the precarious situation of the hostages.

Fajura noted the latest hostage-taking erupted seven months after a kidnapping crisis in Manila ended in bloodshed when a dismissed policeman took captive a busload of Hong Kong tourists to demand his job back. The Aug. 23 ordeal ended with police and the gunman opening fire, leaving eight hostages and the assailant dead and drawing international criticism for the bungled police rescue.

“We learned many lessons from that incident,” Caraga regional police director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal said. “We’ve taken steps to avoid a repeat.”

Malacañang said they are leaving it up to the local crisis committee to take charge of negotiating for the release of the hostages in Prosperidad.

“We’d rather let the local crisis committee take charge, but we are closely monitoring the situation. We are confident of a peaceful resolution in the case. Our priority is the safety of the victims, including the two children,” presidential deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Valte clarified there is “no timetable” in the negotiations.

“But we’re hoping it will be resolved the soonest,” she said, adding that authorities had asked for a proof of life when the negotiations resumed.

“I don’t think we need to say this anymore, but the safety of the hostages should be the priority,” Valte said.

She said the local crisis management committee and town officials “hopefully can handle this without anything untoward happening to the victims.”

Magdamet, for his part, said there was no timeline in the negotiations.

“I don’t have a timeline because the outcome is still in the hands of the negotiators, but we are very hopeful that we will be able to resolve the issue soon,” he told ABS-CBN television.

He said negotiators were given the go ahead to resume talks by the government once they had determined that the hostages, who include several teachers and at least two schoolchildren, were alive and unharmed.

Magdamet stressed the negotiators had no authority to swap the hostages with Perez and three of his accomplices.

“The crisis management committee has no authority to release perpetrators. It’s only the court that can decide on that. It needs a proper court order,” Magdamet said.

Magdamet also dismissed reports the gunmen had threatened to kill hostages unless their demand was met.

A group of public school teachers, meanwhile, condemned the abduction, lamenting the failure of government security forces to assure the safety and security of teachers serving in far-flung areas in Mindanao.

In a statement, the Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers (Assert) said the failure of the police and military to control the situation in the area apparently emboldened lawless elements to prey on underpaid and overworked public school teachers.

tWe call for the immediate release of all sixteen kidnap victims. We also urge the local government, especially the PNP (Philippine National Police) and the Philippine Army to move with the utmost caution and prudence to ensure that our colleagues and their students are returned to their families unscathed,W Assert said.

 This is not the first time that teachers have been abducted or caught in the crossfire or have been under threat, especially at the hands of criminal elements and lawless groups,T the group said. –With Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rainier Allan Ronda, AP