2 Chinese engineers kidnapped in Cotabato to be re

DAVAO CITY — The Arroyo administration is reportedly working double time for the release of the two remaining Chinese hostages of a kidnap-for-ransom group operating in Central Mindanao.

The business community in Central Mindanao is also pushing the government for the immediate release of Zhang Zhung Yi and Edwin Lim before Sept. 22 when the 10th Mindanao Business Conference (MBC) starts in Cotabato City.

The Cotabato business leaders have asked that as much as possible, the hostages be released soon to project an image that it is safe to invest and do business in Central Mindanao.

Both the local government officials and the business community in the region consider the business conference, the first time to be held in Cotabato City, as an extremely important initiative in bringing back investor confidence in the strife-torn area.

The two kidnapped victims were reported since Saturday to be released anytime after an emissary was sent to the "Pentagon" group, known to be led by former Muslim separatist rebels, that held them captive.

The Pentagon group first abducted last June, Zhong Zhung-quiang, a Chinese engineer working for the China Import Export Technologies Inc., while on his way to the Malmar Irrigation project site in Carmen, North Cotabato.

Lim, Yi, Xue Xing and another Chinese engineer were also abducted last month when they attempted to facilitate the release of Quiang in the town of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao.

Quiang and Xing were killed last month in an encounter between the military and their abductors while the other Chinese engineer escaped unhurt while Yi and Lim were still being held captive.

Meanwhile, participants to this month’s 10th Mindanao Business Conference here, among them foreign capitalists from other parts of the Southeast Asian region, will tour the former main camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to see what projects they could undertake there.

Antonio Santos, chair of the Metro Cotabato Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), said part of the Sept. 20 to 22 10th MBC here is a field trip of participants to Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s former 26,000-hectare enclave, which is now being developed by Malacañang into a "special zone of peace."

"Apart from showing to them the investment potentials of Central Mindanao, we will see to it that they will also get a real feel of how good are the eco-tourism potentials of the region, too," Santos said.

Camp Abubakar, the former bastion of the MILF which is now under government’s control, is being rehabilitated extensively by Malacañang through the office in Davao City of Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza. — With John Unson