MILF sends team to search for TV reporter Ces Drilon

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has ordered its men in Sulu to locate ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and three others who were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf last Sunday. MILF military spokesman Eid Kabalu said their troops in Sulu are now trying to locate the four abducted persons - identified as Professor Octavio Dinampo, Drilon, and ABS-CBN cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama. Kabalu said their troops intend to locate the whereabouts of the four. When asked if they would rescue or simply relay the information to the authorities, Kabalu no longer replied. Outgoing Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza meantime said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has already ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to exhaust all efforts to rescue Drilon and her three companions. When asked about the involvement of the MILF in the rescue effort, Dureza stopped replying to queries. In its website www.luwaran.com, the MILF said it has created a special group in Jolo, Sulu to actively help monitor the whereabouts and condition of the victims. An MILF political officer, whose identity is not divulged to give him and his group better chances of getting hard facts of the incident, heads the special group. "This will give our man in Sulu freedom to move around freely," said Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat. He clarified though that the MILF can offer limited help, and described the Abu Sayyaf and MILF as "like water and oil." "But we will do everything in our limited ways to help secure her and her companions early freedom," he vowed. Mantawil revealed that the MILF special group had already sent an initial report saying Ces Drilon's team was kidnapped by an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader, a certain Gafur Gumbahali, in Barangay Kulasi, Maimbung town Sunday morning. Gafur, the report added, is the brother of dreaded Abu Sayyaf leader Dr. Abu Jumdail Gumbahali. This is in contrast, however, to the initial report that the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad in Barangay Kulasi abducted Drilon and the three others. Drilon and her crew reportedly arrived in Jolo last Saturday on the invitation of Dinampo of the Mindanao State University "to cover a special event". Dinampo served as guide of Drilon's group, who stayed at the Sulu State University Hotel. On Sunday, Dinampo picked Drilon and her colleagues from the university hostel, but they were intercepted by armed men under Parad's command. The kidnappers are reportedly demanding a P10 million ransom in exchange for the freedom of Dinampo, Drilon, and the cameramen. This is the second time that a journalist from ABS-CBN was kidnapped in Sulu. In 2000, ABS-CBN reporter Maan Macapagal and her cameraman, Val Cuenca, were also kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf terror group. Based on ABS-CBN newsbreak's research, there have been at least 20 journalists that the Abu Sayyaf group has held captive since 2000. Most of them were foreign journalists, but the list includes reporters of the country's top news agencies -- television networks ABS-CBN and GMA-7 and the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer, among others. Some of their reporters were held for only a few hours, others for months. Among the journalists abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in the past were Susan Enriquez, 10 foreign journalists (seven German, one French, one Australian, and one Danish), German Andreas Lorenz of the magazine Der Spiegel, French television reporter Maryse Burgot and cameraman Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and sound technician Roland Madura, Philippine Daily Inquirer contributor and Net 25 television reporter Arlyn de la Cruz, GMA-7 television reporter Carlo Lorenzo, and cameraman Gilbert Ordiales. – Sun.Star Davao http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/index.html