Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, a member of the Council of 15, the MNLF’s new central leadership, told Mindanao Cross that backchannel efforts are still underway for the release, without any ransom, of the two captives.
Zhang and Lim were snatched in Datu Paglas town last August while about to pay the kidnapping group a P5-million ransom in exchange for the release of a compatriot, Zhang Zhung Quiang, who was abducted in North Cotabato last June.
Zhang Zhung Quiang, gunned down by his captors during a chance encounter with soldiers last month, was operations manager of the Chinese firm that constructed major components of the Malitubog-Maridagao (Mal-Mar) irrigation project in Carmen, North Cotabato.
Armed men snatched him in Matalam, North Cotabato while on his way to the project site from Davao City on board a chartered passenger van.
Sema said the MNLF has been closely monitoring, since last week, the whereabouts of Zhang Zhung Yi and Lim in a bid to help North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol and Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza work out their release.
The Army’s 6th Infantry Division here earlier said Zhang and Lim, a Chinese-Filipino, are being held captive by a group led by Tahir Alonto, long wanted for a string of heinous offenses.
"For now, what we can confirm is that the two captives are both in good health and are both alive, contrary to previous reports that they (were) both killed while in captivity," Sema said.
Sema said they have sent emissaries to the kidnappers to convince them to release the victims and avail themselves of government livelihood assistance.
Dureza earlier promised to accompany the kidnappers to Malacañang to personally surrender to President Arroyo and Justice Secretary Hernando Perez.
Last week, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Alonto and his followers were not members of the front.
Alonto’s group has demanded a P10-million ransom for Zhang Zhung Yi and Lim.
Lim’s family in Kidapawan City appealed to his captors last month to release him without ransom, saying they could have mistaken him for his two namesakes in Davao City who both own big business establishments.
Lim works as an interpreter of the Chinese firm which built the Mal-Mar irrigation facility, with a monthly salary of P10,000.