Mayor, teachers' group appeal to kidnappers to release tutors

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat and a group of teachers appealed yesterday to gunmen holding three teachers to release them for the sake of their students.

Speaking over radio dzXL, Lobregat said the families of the teachers were too poor to pay ransom, and that the government would not pay either because that would only encourage more kidnappings.

“The kidnappers should know that these teachers and their families cannot afford to pay ransom,” he said.

“And the losers in the end will be Muslim youths because teachers will no longer want to teach in far-flung areas.”

In a statement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers said: “The perpetrators have not only endangered the lives of these everyday heroes but also trampled on the right of education of hundreds of poor children.”

Initially, the Department of Education told about 50 other teachers to stay away from nearby island schools.

However, the teachers were later told to report to work yesterday because police and the military would provide security.

The teachers were snatched while traveling by boat near Zamboanga City’s Pangapuyan island on Friday.

They were believed to have been taken to Basilan, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

The hostages are a woman and two men. The family of one of them reported receiving a call from the hostage relaying a ransom demand.

‘Red Cross workers safe’

Three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf are in good condition amid discreet efforts to negotiate their release, the provincial crisis management committee said yesterday.

However, Sonny Abbing, Sulu provincial information officer, said there has been no sighting of the hostages – Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni, Filipino engineer Marie Jean Lacaba – except for the contacts which ensured they are alive.

“There has been no sighting but based on the contacts they are in good condition,” he said.

Abbing did not say where the hostages are being held by the band of Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu Pula, his son Gafur and Albader Parad.

“We cannot comment on unverified information as this will only complicate our ongoing effort to recover the victims safely,” he said.

A barangay official and an intelligence agent reported the group of Parad and the Jumdails were spotted in a barangay in Indanan, leading to speculations that the hostages were being kept there.

Task Force ICRC would be issuing developments of the efforts in seeking the freedom of the victims at the soonest possible time, Abbing said.

Bandits guard hostages

At least 100 armed bandits including the Abu Sayyaf are now guarding the three Red Cross workers and a South Korean in a remote barangay in Indanan in Sulu, a former hostage and peace advocate said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters in Quezon City, professor Octavio Dinampo said the kidnappers of Notter, Vagni, and Lacaba and the South Korean are the same group that snatched him and the news team of ABS-CBN anchor Ces Drilon last year.

“I am very certain they are the same group that abducted us. They are roaming in the same place where they brought us during out captivity,” he said.

Dinampo, a professor at the Mindanao State University in Indanan and president of the Mindanao Peace Advocate, is in Manila to attend the habeas corpus hearing at the Court of Appeals of Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider who were linked to their kidnapping.

Dinampo urged the government to unmask and track down the real brains of the kidnappings in Sulu.

Some of the bandit leaders are related to a top government official in Sulu, he added.

Dinampo said his sources told him that the Red Cross workers are being held together with the South Korean hostage.

“A certain Dr. Abu is now taking charge of the armed group,” he said.

Based on his informants, ICRC officials and top commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front are negotiating for the safe release of the hostages, Dinampo said.   – Roel Pareño, Perseus Echeminada, AP