Government scored for allowing ‘ransom’ for Sinos’ release

KIDAPAWAN CITY — North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, known for his hardline policy in dealing with criminals, chided the national government yesterday for allegedly allowing negotiators, among them Libyan Ambassador Salem Adam, to pay P15.8 million in ransoms to the "Pentagon" kidnapping syndicate in exchange for the release of its two Chinese captives.

Piñol, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, corroborated reports circulating in Central Mindanao that those who negotiated the release of Edwin Lim and Zhang Zhung Yi, also allegedly gifted Tahir Alonto, the kidnap syndicate’s leader, with two M-60 machineguns.

Piñol said he has been receiving persistent feedback from Muslim religious leaders and local government sources that negotiators paid huge amounts of money to Alonto to secure the release of Lim last September and Zhang last Oct. 19.

"Does the government have a selective implementation of its supposed no-ransom policy in negotiating with kidnappers? We are encouraging more kidnappings because of this kind of attitude toward these hardened criminals," Piñol said.

Ransom for Zhang

Speculations are rife that those who worked out Zhang’s release, among them the Libyan envoy, Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and Presidential Assistant for Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales, paid about P10 million for the release of the Chinese national.

Lim, a Chinese-Filipino trader based in Davao City, and Zhang, along with two other compatriots, Xue Xing and Wang Sheng-li, were snatched in early August at the boundary of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao and Columbio, Sultan Kudarat while about to pay a P5-million ransom to Alonto’s group for the release of a compatriot, Zhang Zhung Quiang (Zhang’s older brother), who was snatched last June 22 in Matalam, North Cotabato.

Xue and Zhang Zhung Quiang, employed by a Chinese firm constructing the Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation project in Carmen, North Cotabato, was killed by their captors during a chance encounter with pursuing elements of the Army’s 6th Infantry Battalion and the 301st Infantry Brigade last Aug. 11.

Wang, on the other hand, managed to escape as the kidnappers and the soldiers traded shots, leaving behind Lim and Zhang Zhung Yi, who were reportedly brought to a remote area in the Liguasan marsh after the hostilities.

Sema denial

Sema, however, belied the reports about the ransom payments, saying the Pentagon group freed Lim and Zhang after learning that the Moro National Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation Front had joined forces in negotiating their release.

"The involvement of (Libyan) Ambassador Adam also pressured the kidnappers to release Zhang," Sema said.

Sema, in recent years, has interceded for the release, without any ransom, of five kidnapped Cotabato City residents.

Piñol also criticized the national government for focusing its attention only on the plight of foreigners kidnapped by local syndicates.

In his province alone, Piñol said three residents — Genaro Torqueza, his driver, Ardelino Alegado, and a farmer named Mariano Cañete, who were snatched separately two years ago by "lost command" Moro rebels — have not been recovered yet due to the provincial government’s no-ransom policy.

"When Zhang and Lim were still being held captive, I received so many calls from government officials in Manila tasking me to help secure their release because, as they said, their prolonged captivity is too embarrassing for Malacañang," Piñol said.

Piñol said there were indications, too, that negotiations for the release of Zhang was "fast-tracked" so he could be freed while President Arroyo was in China attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit.