Breakthrough in Sayyaf talks seen before Estrada's China trip

Malacañang expected breakthroughs in negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf after government emissaries re-established contact yesterday with the extremists who are holding 21 mostly foreign hostages in Jolo, Sulu.

"We are hoping we will have breakthroughs and before President Estrada leaves for China on May 16, something clear will happen in Mindanao," said Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora.

This again raises hope for the prospects of an early release for a critically ill German woman hostage but officials rejected claims that a ransom was being negotiated for the release of all the captives.

"We already have some contact, we are expecting some response hopefully within today," said Robert Aventajado, presidential adviser for flagship projects.

A second meeting between negotiators and the Abu Sayyaf abductors was canceled Thursday following a military buildup around the planned venue in the coastal town of Patikul in southern Sulu.

The rebels had fled with the hostages to another hideout and negotiators were unable to establish contact until early yesterday.

The breakdown dealt a blow to efforts to win the immediate release of German woman Renate Wallert, who suffers from high blood pressure and is feared to be susceptible to a stroke.

Aventajado said while contact had been re-established, there was no indication yet when the Abu Sayyaf could continue discussions with Islamic scholar Ghazali Ibrahim and former Libyan ambassador Rajab Azzarouq.

He also said the military had pulled away from the area where the talks would be held.

"The military is now far away, that will not be an impediment anymore," he said.

The Abu Sayyaf had pledged during their first meeting with the negotiators on Wednesday that they would respond within 24 hours to a request to release the 57-year-old Wallert.

Abu Sayyaf rebels are also holding Wallert's husband and son, as well as nationals from France, Finland, South Africa, Lebanon, the Philippines and Malaysia.

They were snatched from a Malaysian resort off Sabah on April 23.

Negotiations for the release of the hostages -- who are living in appalling conditions -- were also complicated by conflicting reports of clashes in Patikul.

Gov. Nur Misuari of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which includes Sulu, said fighting between unknown groups occurred in the coastal town but military officials dismissed the claim.

Ibrahim, the government's top negotiator, said the clashes were a result of "some misunderstanding between two Army units."

Police intelligence reports received in Jolo said clashes started after the Army opened fire on a hill where Abu Sayyaf rebels were hiding.

Rebels responded with a volley "but there was no actual ground-to-ground fighting."

"It looks like they just answered the burst of fire from the other side," a report said.

Ibrahim and Azzarouq, meanwhile, dismissed reports that a deal has been clinched for a ransom of up to P70,000 per hostage.

Nearly all kidnappings staged by the Abu Sayyaf in the past have ended up with payments of "board and lodging" expenses incurred for captives, the unofficial term used by the Muslim rebel group for ransom.

The government has a policy of not paying ransom to kidnappers but often sidesteps it by giving food and lodging expenses sought by captors.

Local newspaper and broadcast reports have suggested the Abu Sayyaf and negotiators might agree on between P50,000 to P70,000 per hostage.

"They never uttered those words," said Ibrahim.

Azzarouq said: "I'm assuring you they did not mention it to me. We were talking about their grievances."

GMA Television reported that apart from "board and lodging" expenses, the Abu Sayyaf group also demanded political recognition and a ban on Christian missionaries in Mindanao.

The rebels also want the Philippines and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to recognize them as a political group and not as a terrorist unit.

In a related development, Sen. Robert Barbers urged President Estrada to include at least seven local leaders in a negotiating team that will work for the release of the 21 hostages.

The senator, who hails from Surigao del Norte, named the seven as Maguindanao Gov. Zacaria Candao; former Tawi-Tawi Gov. Gerry Matba; Al Camlian, a former deputy secretary of the Office on Muslim Affairs;

Sultan Amin Balindong, former mayor of Malabang, Lanao del Sur; Mayor Al Caluang of Calinggalan Caluang, Sulu; Vice Mayor Akhmad Omar of Luuk, Sulu; and Teddy Barandino, president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen in Basilan.

"I believe that being former commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, these personalities will prove to be of great help in bringing an end to the Mindanao crisis," Barbers said in his letter to the Chief Executive.

Sen. Raul Roco, meanwhile, has called on the nation to unite behind President Estrada on the Mindanao problem.

Roco, who is Mr. Estrada's most bitter critic, said he would not criticize the President or even the military on their handling of the Mindanao crisis.

"I wish him well, for at no other time in Philippine history, I think, is there (more a) need for national unity," he said.

Roco added that the nation is hoping that the administration could resolve the Mindanao problem.

"We cannot last as a nation unless we do this," he said.