EDITORIAL - No end to kidnapping

Every time there is a major kidnapping targeting foreign visitors, tourism takes a hit, and not just in the province where the attack occurs. The entire country’s tourism marketing promotion overseas is saddled by perceptions that foreign visitors are unsafe anywhere in the Philippines.

The latest attack before midnight Monday on a resort on Samal Island off Davao City will surely reinforce this perception. A Filipina, two Canadian visitors, and the Norwegian marina manager of the Holiday Ocean View Samal Resort were seized in a raid by 11 gunmen on two motorized outriggers. Other foreigners reportedly jumped off a yacht to escape from the kidnappers.

Suspicion is focused on the Abu Sayyaf, which has staged similar kidnapping raids in the past and is still holding several captives in Sulu. The only way for the country to recover from this latest setback is to rescue the victims ASAP. The nation’s record in this area, however, has not been reassuring.

When 21 people – 10 tourists from Europe and the Middle East and 11 local resort workers – were seized from the Malaysian island resort of Sipadan in April 2000 and turned over to the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu, it took five months before the kidnapping was resolved. The hostages were not recovered in a rescue operation, but were freed after the bandits led by Ghalib “Commander Robot” Andang were paid a reported $20 million by the Libyan government under Muammar Gaddafi and an additional $3 million by Malaysia.

The hefty ransom payment turned kidnapping into a top industry and guaranteed more attacks. In May 2001, the Abu Sayyaf raided an island resort in Palawan, grabbing several Filipino guests and resort workers and three Americans. One of the Americans was later beheaded while another was killed in a rescue operation a year later.

Today the Abu Sayyaf is still holding foreign hostages, with one of them – a Dutch bird watcher – held captive for nearly three years now. Foreigners and Filipinos alike are not safe from the bandits. Only last April, gunmen seized from her home Mayor Gemma Adana of Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay and turned her over to the Abu Sayyaf, which is reportedly demanding P17 million in exchange for her freedom.

If ransom or any “board and lodging fee” is given for the safe release of hostages, the payment, whether in cash or kind, must be recovered. Failure to do so will reward kidnapping and ensure more attacks. As important as rescuing the victims is capturing the perpetrators and putting them behind bars. It ensures that they will not commit the crime again. It also shows the world that the Philippines deals decisively with security threats.