By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The Philippines has condemned an al-Qaeda-linked militant group for threatening to behead a village chief and two coastguards unless ransoms are paid for their safe release.
Capt. Rowena Muyuela, Western Mindanao Command spokeswoman, said in a statement that the military denounced the Abu Sayyaf’s continuous criminal acts against innocent civilians in the southernmost island of Mindanao.
She said the command’s joint task forces are working to expedite the arrest of the captors and their hostages’ safe release, and “have exerted all efforts” to assist the national police while “providing support to the local government units.”
The statement late Friday comes in the wake of the Abu Sayyaf posting a video online which shows the 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.
According to Muyuela, the Dapitan City government has already convened a crisis management committee to look into the incidents.
Meanwhile, the Malacanang presidential palace has reiterated the government’s no ransom policy as the Abu Sayyaf are believed to be holding the village chief and coastguards in an undisclosed area in the troubled south.
“The government maintains its no ransom policy,” the Philstar online quoted Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. as saying this week.
The navy has ordered coast guard teams to exert their utmost efforts in working alongside police and the military to rescue their kidnapped colleagues, according to local media.
Meanwhile, the family of Pagaling has asked the government for help after the captors’ threats.
His sister Joy told PhilStar that bandits had lowered their ransom demand from P100 million ($2.2 million) for each captive to P10 million – and eventually P3 million ($66,500) in the case of her brother.
“We cannot afford it. I even told one of the captors that they erred when they seized our brother, that we are poor,” Joy said.
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 Feb. 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.
