Ces, others amend affidavits to include Indanan mayor, son

MANILA, Philippines – Kidnap victims ABS-CBN news anchor Ces Oreña-Drilon and her cameramen have amended their affidavits and stated the possible involvement of Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider in their abduction and captivity for 10 days in Sulu.

Sources said the amended affidavit of Drilon, her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and assistant cameraman Angelo Valderama will be presented to prosecutors from the Department of Justice on Monday.

“They (Drilon’s group) have already filed their amended affidavits, which include their (Isnajis’) possible involvement in the kidnapping,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We will present the amended affidavit on Monday.”

This developed as the Isnajis replaced their legal counsel for the second time. Their first lawyer was Ernesto Francisco, who withdrew from the case, saying the suspects are Muslims and should be represented by a Muslim lawyer who is familiar with Mindanao.

The Isnajis later hired Muslim lawyer Firdausi Abbas.

But in a press statement released yesterday, the Isnajis said “we terminated the legal services of their legal counsel for accusing a government official of shelling out P15-million ransom for the release of the ABS-CBN news team held captive in Sulu for 10 days.”

The Isnajis said they decided to replace Abbas because they don’t want to be involved in his controversial statement.

“We continue to hold Atty. Abbas in high esteem. But we would like to dissociate ourselves from media statements attributed to him to the effect that a high-ranking government official, whose car plate is higher than ‘6,’ provided P15-million ransom money paid for the release of TV journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon, her crew and Prof. Octavio Dinampo,” the Isnajis said.

The Isnajis said they did not authorize Abbas to issue the statement.

Lawyers Jovetino Diamante, Jose Ventura Aspiras, and Armeen Alain Gomez of the Diamante and Diamante Law now represent the Isnajis.

“We are confident that the Department of Justice investigation will vindicate our innocence and show the world that in our country it’s still not a crime to help,” the Isnajis said.