Vigilantes offer to swap hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- An eye for an eye.

The kidnappers of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani's family want to swap hostages with the rebel group.

Vigilante leader Abdul Midjal said in a radio interview that he was willing to free Janjalani's wife and kin in exchange for the terrorist group's 33 remaining hostages in Basilan.

"Our intention here is not a kidnap for ransom," Midjal said. "We just want to help and support the innocent civilians and minimize kidnapping here."

However, the Abu Sayyaf, which is now known as Al Harakatul Islamia, did not respond to Midjal's offer, but insisted the group would negotiate with the government only if President Estrada named action star Robin Padilla to the negotiating panel.

"Our stand remains, Robin Padilla must be the chief negotiator," Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad Salayuddin said over a local radio station

President Estrada, reacting on Pope John Paul II's prayer for Mindanao the other day, said: "He should not be praying for peace for Mindanao only but he should be praying for peace in the world."

The President said there are other trouble spots like Kosovo and Pakistan which the Pope should also pray for.

The Abu Sayyaf threatened to kill male hostages, including a Catholic priest if Padilla, a Muslim, and a representative from the Vatican are not allowed to take part in negotiations.

On the other hand, Midjal's vigilantes said they will also kill Janjalani's family in case the Abu Sayyaf harms any of the 33 hostages.

Meanwhile, Malacanang said the Basilan crisis management committee can decide whether or not Padilla would be named mediator, intermediary or third party representative in negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf.

However, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora told The STAR government policy bans the appointment of Padilla as government negotiator for the hostages' release.

"He (Padilla) can only be a third party, or intermediary or mediator, but not a negotiator," he said.

Zamora said the Office of the President Executive Committee, which was activated by President Estrada before he left for a four-day tour of the Visayas, reached the decision during a meeting in Malacanang yesterday.

Gov. Nur Misuari of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao said getting Padilla as a negotiator for the talks will not be a problem.

"He (Padilla) is a very popular man, especially among his Muslim brothers," he told reporters when he made a courtesy call on Secretary Artemio Tuquero at the Department of Justice yesterday. "They will listen to him. He could not be more effective than Nur Misuari. Even myself, I will listen to him. They (the Muslims) look up to him."

In Basilan, Abu Sayyaf guerrillas rejected the appointment of Janjalani's father-in-law as the government's chief negotiator for the release of the 33 hostages.

Salayuddin said in a radio interview that they don't recognize Ustadz Hussein Manalad, the father-in-law of their leader, and that the talks might just "end up in sympathy."

Meanwhile, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said he favors the Abu Sayyaf's demand to have Padilla appointed as chief government negotiator.

"Anyone they want," he said in Filipino in a radio interview. "As long as they want to talk and we know what they want so the hostages can be released."

However, Enrile warned the guerrillas against harming the hostages as they would lose their fellow Muslims' sympathy.

"If they do that (harm the hostages), the people would become their enemy... because... they are conducting non-civilized warfare," he said.

"Think it over what you have done because if you're planning to do what you want to against these innocent people, you will lose not only the sympathy of the entire world, even your Muslim brothers in Mindanao will lose their sympathy for you."

In another development, people in Basilan fear a tribal war might erupt if the government fails to resolve the hostage crisis involving the Abu Sayyaf and the Civilian Volunteers.

Last week, the 33 hostages were taken by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas from two schools in Basilan province after a failed raid on a military detachment.

In retaliation, the Civilian Volunteers led by Midjal kidnapped Janjalani's wife, child and mother, and seven other relatives because one of the Abu Sayyaf's hostages is a daughter of Midjal.

Midjal belongs to the Tausog tribe, while the Abu Sayyaf members mostly come from the Yakan tribe, a provincial official, who requested anonymity, told The