Release of Pelaez son just a matter of days — Emano

ILIGAN CITY — Negotiations for the release of a son of former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez are under way, and Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano believes that he will be freed in just a matter of days.

Emano is heading the negotiations for the release of Enrico Pelaez, an executive of the Mindanao Development Bank, who is reportedly being kept somewhere in Lanao.

Emano said the identities of Pelaez’s abductors are now known, and that the police and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force are coordinating with him in securing Pelaez’s release.

The mayor refused to identify the kidnappers, and disclose the exact amount of ransom they are demanding.

Pelaez was snatched last Nov. 23 in Barangay Gusa in Cagayan de Oro.

Following the kidnapping, Emano ordered the police to put up checkpoints which he earlier had dismantled because of complaints.

Authorities are also tracking down the abductors of Rachel Ann Valmoria, a nurse of the Cagayan de Oro Medical Center, who was snatched last Nov. 21. Her kidnappers have asked for a P100,000 ransom.

The kidnappers of Pelaez and Valmoria have reportedly threatened to "sell" their captives to a bigger group like the Abu Sayyaf if their ransom demands are not met.

No to ransom

In the flurry of negotiations though, the Southern Command urged relatives of kidnap victims not to give in to ransom demands.

"As much as possible and in line with the government’s no-ransom policy, we will stop the relatives of the victims from paying even a single centavo to the kidnappers in exchange for the liberty of the captives. If this is permitted, the kidnappers will continue with their illegal activities," said Col. Hilario Atendido, Southcom spokesman.

This was echoed by Superintendent Jorge Corpuz, spokesman of the regional police command, who added that the victims’ families may negotiate with the kidnappers but should not give in to their ransom demands.

But Corpuz admitted that they cannot enforce the no-ransom policy if the victims’ families would not cooperate with authorities.

Besides Pelaez and Valmoria, kidnappers are still holding the four-year-old son and the wife of two businessmen captive.

Marilyn Tiu, wife of businessman Richard Tiu who owns fishing boats and general merchandise stores in Zamboanga del Sur, was snatched by armed men believed to be Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels from their house in Alicia town last Nov. 28.

Four-year-old Edward John Agustin, on the other hand, was seized from their residence in Barangay Batiokan in Libungan, North Cotabato also on the same day. — With Roel Pareño