GMA: Get kidnappers first, worry about victims later

Amid persistent speculation that ransom paved the way for the release of a kidnapped Italian priest, President Arroyo ordered government troops yesterday to henceforth focus on getting kidnappers first and worrying about the victims later.

The President unveiled the new policy during her weekly radio program after she was informed that Italian priest Giuseppe Pierantoni had been released unharmed by his Pentagon Gang abductors in Zamboanga del Sur before dawn yesterday.

Although Mrs. Arroyo neither confirmed nor denied that ransom was paid for Pierantoni who had been held for six months, she said the priest’s release was due to her new policy of aiming for the arrest of kidnappers rather than the rescue of hostages.

"That is how we did it with Fr. Pierantoni," the President said. "I did not set any deadline. I told (the police): ‘Don’t make the rescue of the priest as your specific target.’ In the process, the priest was saved."

"In other words, the target should be the kidnappers... not the kidnap victims but the kidnappers themselves," she emphasized.

She said she gave the same order to the military’s Southern Command (Southcom) which is in charge of pursuing Abu Sayyaf terrorists who still hold hostage a Filipina nurse and an American missionary couple.

"I gave the same instructions for the Abu Sayyaf group. The target is the Abu Sayyaf, not the kidnap victims," she stressed.

However, the President said Pierantoni’s release also came several days after the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Mindanao, tasked to pursue the Pentagon gang in Central Mindanao, supposedly engaged the kidnapping gang in "fierce fightings all over Mindanao."

"Thanks to divine mercy, after fierce fighting all over Mindanao, we finally saved Fr. Pierantoni," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"Now that Fr. Pierantoni has been rescued, I am directing the PNP and the AFP to intensify their operations to wipe out the Pentagon gang and all other kidnapping gangs," the President said.

"To the PNP and AFP, my marching order: give them no quarter. Annihilate these criminal gangs," she added.

The President had earlier ordered the Zamboanga City-based Southcom to take the lead role in pursuing the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Basilan and Sulu who are behind the abduction of at least 30 people, including nurse Deborah Yap and missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham.

The PNP Task Force Mindanao, on the other hand, was ordered to pursue the Pentagon gang and rescue Pierantoni, who was kidnapped on Oct. 17 at his parish in Dimataling, Zamboanga del Sur.

The President said the PNP Task Force Mindanao, headed by newly promoted Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, will continue with their pursuit operations against the kidnapping gang composed of former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).