EDITORIAL - Open season

There’s only one justification for a government to approve the payment of ransom for its kidnapped citizens: it intends to arrest the kidnappers and recover the money once the victims are freed. This could be why Washington, in a significant shift in its policy regarding kidnappings, has reportedly approved negotiations for the payment of ransom to Abu Sayyaf terrorists who are holding hostage American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap in Basilan.

Reports from Washington said application of the policy shift will be determined on a case-to-case basis. The shift was reportedly opposed by the Pentagon but endorsed by the State Department. A private organization has put up $300,000 for the ransom, the reports said, and the negotiations are now supposedly at a "delicate" stage. Reactions from Malacañang indicate that the Philippine government is in the dark about the reported policy shift. 

Will the tack work in this country? No ransom money has ever been recovered from kidnappers in Mindanao. While ransom has secured the release of many victims in the past, kidnappers have not been arrested. All that ransom payments have done in this country is encourage more kidnappings. Crime pays, and it pays handsomely, as shown by Ghalib "Commander Robot" Andang, head of the Abu Sayyaf faction based in Sulu that reportedly made up to $20 million from the abduction of foreigners from a Malaysian island resort in 2000. Paying ransom, "board and lodging fee" or "livelihood assistance" to crooks has turned kidnapping into the most profitable industry in Basilan and Sulu.

If the shift in US policy toward kidnappers is true, it could send the message that taking Americans hostage can be a profitable undertaking. It could mean an open season on all Americans anywhere in the world. Who’s to say which case will warrant a ransom payment? Most kidnappers would be willing to take their chances; there are always other Americans who can be abducted. In paying ransom to get kidnappers, Washington risks telling the world that it pays to take Americans hostage.