Sarangani mayor denies raising ransom

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — A Sarangani town mayor has denied that he was raising P20 million as ransom for a Korean treasure-hunter who has been held captive since Feb. 6.

Maitum Mayor George Yabes said he was troubled with the report alleging that he offered to raise the P20-million ransom which the abductors of Korean national Jae Keon Yoon have demanded and which he would ask the South Korean Embassy to reimburse.

"I am distressed that an irresponsible source has succeeded in inventing a story that was passed on to your paper as legitimate news at my expense," Yabes said in a letter to The STAR.

The mayor dared the report’s "highly reliable source" to come out and tell what is really happening so the report could be validated.

Reacting to Yabes’ statement, the source said, "It’s expected that the mayor would deny the story."

Jae’s kidnappers, said to be former guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front led by Commander Tigre Jikiri, relayed their ransom demand in a letter, accompanied by a tape-recorded message of the foreigner.

Jikiri’s group made the demand following a meeting between their emissary, a certain Max Binago, and Maitum councilor Franklin Canedo, whom Yabes reportedly sent.

Jae and his Filipino business partner, Carlos Belonio, were abducted last Feb. 6 while they were searching for nickel deposits near the boundary of Maitum and Palimbang in Sultan Kudarat.

Belonio, owner of two Tierra Verde hotels in this city, was released in Malapatan, Sarangani following negotiations which Palimbang Mayor Labualas Mamansual had initiated.

"We are not negotiating for ransom. The no-ransom policy is also my policy, even my family’s," Yabes said.

He denied raising money for the ransom or having talked with anybody from the South Korean Embassy.

"We are one for all, all for one with the no-ransom policy of the government," he said, recalling the meeting of Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza and local government, police and military officials in Malungon town last week.