Pentagon leader wants to yield but...

A top leader of the notorious Pentagon kidnapping gang in Central Mindanao has sent surrender feelers but reportedly demanded that all criminal charges against him be dropped before he and his men would give up.

"If he wants to surrender, he could do so anytime but there should be no trade-off," said Maj. Gen. Raul Relano, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao.

Relano was referring to Mayangkang Saguile, said to be the Pentagon’s most senior leader who would likely succeed their chieftain, Tahir Alonto, who was killed last Aug. 13. Alonto’s right-hand man, Ahman Kapuyak, was slain last Sept. 3. — Jaime Laude