AFP halts rescue of Basilan girl

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The military has halted any rescue operation to give way to negotiations for the safe release of a nine-year-old girl being held by suspected Abu Sayyaf members in the mountains of Tuburan, Basilan.

Lamitan Mayor Roderick Furigay, however, said men of the Army’s 18th Infantry Battalion have remained in the area in case the negotiations for the release of Donna May Ramos, daughter of Lamitan councilor Donel Ramos, bog down.

The girl was snatched last Wednesday while she was riding her bike outside her house.

Emissaries headed by former Tuburan mayor Jimiri Hajaron have been negotiating with the girl’s kidnappers, two of them identified with the Abu Sayyaf. — Roel Pareño