State of Emergency

ISABELA, BASILAN—After three months, a hopeful sign.

With Muslim clerics now involved in the negotiations, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno reported Thursday a “breakthrough” in the efforts to secure the release of two workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) being held hostage on Jolo island.

“Right now, there are talks going on,” said Puno during a visit to Isabela on Basilan island. “That is a hopeful sign, there’s communication going on.”

“There’s a little improvement over dialogues before,” he said.

The government has enlisted five ulama to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf, led by Albader Parad, after a lull in talks between the kidnappers and local officials over the past two weeks.

ICRC workers Andreas Notter of Switzerland, Eugenio Vagni of Italy and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba were kidnapped Jan. 15 while working to improve the water supply at the Jolo jail.

Lacaba was freed April 2, but the kidnappers threatened to behead one of the two hostages unless troops surrounding their forested hideout in Indanan on Jolo withdrew.

Puno did not say when the ulama group talked with the Abu Sayyaf but he said the government was trying to arrange the release at least of Vagni, who was reported to be suffering from a hernia and needed immediate medical attention.

“We are trying to convince the kidnappers to allow a medical team to check on Eugenio Vagni’s health and, hopefully, work for his immediate release,” Puno said.

No troop withdrawal

“I think the kidnappers understand that we are not about to talk about pulling out, so hopefully they will not insist on any pullout as a precondition. Right now the conversation has started ... we will know in the next two days,” he said.

But he said that the government might resort to force if Vagni’s health would further deteriorate. “They will be held accountable and pay for that,” he said.

He also clarified that a troop pullout could only occur “for the purposes of releasing the hostages.”

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro admitted that the kidnapping had caused serious concerns, not just in the country, but abroad.

“In some countries, it’s election season and it’s becoming a political issue,” he said.
But Teodoro said the pressures were not affecting the government’s rescue plan.

Phone conversation

In Geneva, ICRC spokesperson Dorothea Krimitsas said Thursday its local staffers in the Philippines were able to talk on the phone with the hostages on Tuesday. She said ICRC was glad for the contact, but she declined to comment on the content of the phone conversation.

In Manila Thursday, a group of Sulu residents asked the Supreme Court to nullify Gov. Abdusakur Tan’s declaration of a state of emergency in the province on March 31, arguing that the Constitution authorizes only the President to make such a proclamation.

In a 57-page petition, the group also asked the high court to immediately put a stop to the military and police operations under the emergency.

The petition was filed by lawyer Jamar Kulayan, provincial chair Temogen Tulawie of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Societies, president Mohamman Yusop Ismi of the Southern Mindanao Islamic Institute and Ahajan Awadi and Senior Police Officer 1 Sattal Jadjuli who were both arrested allegedly due to their links to the kidnappers. With reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, and Associated Press