EDITORIAL – Thank God we can give thanks

The release of ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and two others kidnapped by Muslim terrorists provided the country and its leadership not only their most welcome piece of news in many days but also the opportunity to give thanks in such a thankless time.

A kidnapping, of whoever by whoever, always throws everybody into a most precarious and touch-and-go situation where the outcome is never certain and over which nobody can claim to exercise control.

To a great extent, responsibility for any peaceful resolution of a hostage situation is due to answered prayers and a great deal of luck. Other than those two, anybody can only go a certain distance before unpredictability takes over.

Right now, it is too early to say if ransom has been paid. The official position of both the government and ABS-CBN is never to give in to a kidnapper's demand for money. There is no telling, however, what went on in the backrooms of negotiation.

With that in mind, the only ones deserving of the gratitude of a relieved nation is, first and foremost, God, to whom all prayers and entreaties have been directed, and the fates, which must have providentially smiled on the captives.

But those who burned their midnight candles in the backrooms of negotiations must not be forgotten. They did both legwork and nerve-wracking wheeling and dealing to secure the safe release of the hostages. Without the intermediaries, we don't know where we would still be at.

Yet, beyond the good feeling generated by the positive outcome, the tough road leading to a learning and relearning of lessons lies ahead. It is back to the drawing boards regarding how to deal with the phenomenon of kidnappings.

In a world of diminishing values and twisted ideals, no motive, no matter how hellish and repugnant, is ever without adherents, and it is these driven zealots of misplaced directions that the whole of mankind must now constantly guard against.