Indie filmmaker spends 37th birthday in ASG hands

From Tempo (Nov 5): Indie filmmaker spends 37th birthday in ASG hands

Linda Bansil, one of the two “indie” Moro filmmaker sisters kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) on June 22 in Patikul, Sulu, spent her 37th birthday on Sunday still in the hands of the gunmen.

Linda and sister Nadjoua, 39, were trying to document through film the struggle and plight of the unheralded Sulu coffee farmers when several armed men seized them.

Instead, their effort at helping raise awareness on the plight of the Bangsamoro, in general, and the Tausug coffee farmers, in particular, was repaid with their abduction.

Their plight, now on its 137th day today, has been a tremendous cause for suffering of their family, particularly their sickly mother, Fatiha Elouali Bansil, their younger brothers Mohammad and Zacaria, and their relatives.

Mohammad related yesterday that he was able to speak with her sisters some two weeks ago.

He was almost in tears as he spoke about her sisters, because Nadjoua is really sick and that Linda had her 37th birth anniversary in the Sulu jungles with the Moro kidnappers.

“Just how bad is that for a family, for any family, how painful is that, and how revolting can you feel,” the brother said, saying, “if you are poor, no one is going to help you.”

“Over two months ago, Nadjoua developed a toothache, her gums swollen, which have been giving her much pain. She can hardly eat, if there is food, and can not sleep,” the brother said, third in the four siblings.

He said her sister told her about her condition, which is not getting well because there is hardly any medicine at all, no doctor to attend to her.

“Our mother is also sickly now, she does not even want to eat, and hardly able to sleep. She really misses her daughters,” the brother said.

The Bansil family appealed to the government to move and free the two sisters without harm.

Mohammad also asked the colleagues and friends of his late father Ustadhz Abdulbasit Bansil to fulfill their promise to help in getting Nadjoua and Linda safely released.

Nadjoua and Linda, he recalled, only ventured into Sulu after four Tausug residents assured them of their safety while filming the Tausug coffee farmers.

“I hope my sisters’ plight would not become a fodder for political ends,” he said.

http://www.tempo.com.ph/2013/11/indie-filmmaker-spends-37th-birthday-in-asg-hands/#.Unms_I4o5jo