By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group has posted a video online which shows three hostages begging for their ransoms to be paid as their abductors stand by threatening to behead them.
The 3-1/2 minute clip that appeared late Wednesday shows Aliguay Island Barangay village chief Rudy Boligao and coastguards Rodlyn Pagaling and Gringo Villaruz blindfolded, kneeling, making their pleas.
Meanwhile, seven masked gunmen, one of them armed with a machete, stand by threatening to execute the men.
Boligao, Pagaling and Villaruz were abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf affiliates at a beach resort in Aliguay Island, Dapitan City - home to two high-end resorts frequented by foreign and domestic tourists - in Zamboanga del Norte in the southern Philippines on May 4.
Authorities had earlier told Anadolu Agency that around 15 Abu Sayyaf gunmen clad in military and police uniforms had landed in Barangay Aliguay Island and kidnapped the victims, and then fled in an unknown direction.
The suspects had reportedly introduced themselves as police and military personnel and asked about the presence of tourists.
In Wednesday's footage, Pagaling is the first to beg for help from President Benigno S. Aquino III, family members and government officials saying that their captors intend to kill them. A machete was raised above his neck as he talked in front of the camera.
"I am Rod Pagaling and a coastguard... We are calling the government to help us, especially the president... President Aquino help us... Help us... They will kill us... Have mercy on us... To the officials and government to our family help us," Pagaling says in his native Tagalog.
Villaruz states that he and the other captives will be beheaded if their captors do not receive their ransom demand.
"I am Gringo Villaruz, a coastguard, we are asking for help from the uppermost of the government of Philippines... Sir, help us, help us sir, we can't stay longer here sir, because we will be beheaded if it happens their ransom demand will not be given. Sir, have mercy on us..." he says.
The third man, Boligao, also begs officials for help.
After the hostages spoke, a masked man with a mobile phone in his right hand recites a prayer in Arabic and identifies himself as one of the group who kidnapped the men.
"We call that our demand be given as soon as possible time. If you can not provide we are asking we will behead one of the captives or all of them," he adds.
Earlier reports had said that the kidnappers were demanding P100-million ($22.4 million) ransom in exchange for the safe release of their three captives.
Authorities have said that the Abu Sayyaf is still believed to be holding several hostages in Sulu, including a mayor, a public teacher, village chief, a mayor's grandson, and Dutchman Elwold Horn, who was snatched in Tawi-tawi in February 2012.
Horn's fellow wildlife photographer, Lorenzo Vinciguerra, was also seized but escaped in December.
Kidnap-for-ransom gangs frequently operate in Zamboanga Peninsula and the provinces of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.
The gangs are known to hand over their captives to the Abu Sayyaf and negotiate for a ransom that, if paid, is shared with the group.
The kidnappers use isolated sea-lanes and coastal areas to grab their victims, who are then held captive in isolated Muslim villages in the peninsula.
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
