Kidnappers of hotel owner, Korean open to negotiations but...

COTABATO CITY — Kidnappers holding a Filipino hotel owner and a Korean national captive in Palembang, Sultan Kudarat have threatened to prolong the duo’s captivity if the provincial police would insist on serving the warrant for their leader’s arrest.

The kidnappers, however, said they were still open to negotiations for the release of Carlos Belonio and Jae Kwon Yoon, but only with Palembang Mayor Samrod Mamansual and Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza.

"They want the provincial police out of the picture," said a Catholic missionary, who asked not to be identified.

Palembang’s municipal court issued last week a warrant for the arrest of the kidnappers’ leader, Tigre Jikiri, a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Palembang.

Belonio and Jae, known business partners, were snatched early this month while on their way from Palembang to General Santos City.

Belonio, owner of the Tierra Verde Hotel in General Santos, and the foreigner reportedly went to Palembang to convince Jikiri to allow them to inspect supposed nickel deposits in MILF-controlled areas.

They were on their way back to General Santos aboard a Nissan Pathfinder when Tigre and his followers flagged them down in Barangay Malisbong, Palembang and took them at gunpoint.

An influential Muslim datu in Palembang said the kidnappers were still negotiating with the emissaries of Mamansual.

Members of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division are still hot on the trail of Tigre and his followers. Some of Tigre’s cohorts have reportedly sent surrender feelers to Palembang officials.

"But we are not sure if they are really sincere in their desire to give themselves up. They could only be easing somehow the pressure being exerted by the 6th ID on them by saying they want to surrender just for the soldiers to stop running after them," a public school teacher in Palembang said.

Ustadz Muin Khalid, who hails from Maitum, Sarangani, said negotiators should not pay the kidnappers any ransom to discourage other gangs from engaging in kidnappings in neighboring Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat.

"The kidnapping of Belonio and the Korean was the first to take place at the boundary of Maitum and Palembang. We are hoping that would be the first and the last," Khalid said.

Reports have been circulating in Palembang that the kidnappers have asked for a P30-million ransom in exchange for the release of Belonio and Jae.