Photos released by the Western Mindanao Command show freed German hostages Stefan Viktor Okonek, 71, and Henrike Diesen, 55, inside a military base in Sulu province
The Philippine military has kept the Sulu crisis committee and provincial leaders in the dark as ransom was being delivered to the Abu Sayyaf in exchange for the safe release of two German yachters kidnapped by the jihadist group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.
Abu Sayyaf militants have freed Stefan Viktor Okonek, 71, and Henrike Diesen, 55, in Patikul town late Friday. They were recovered by policemen near a checkpoint and were immediately whisked by the military to a camp in Jolo town.
The Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) which formed a special ad-hoc crisis committee headed by Governor Toto Tan was not even informed by the military of the release of the hostages and up until Saturday, no security officials have briefed the PPOC about the latest development for a still unknown reason.
In a television interview on Saturday in Manila, Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, a spokesman for the Philippine Army, said the foreigners were freed due to pressure exerted by security forces. He said no ransom was paid for the release of the hostages only to say later that he was not aware if money was paid to the Abu Sayyaf.
But Aboo Rami, who spoke for the Abu Sayyaf, told Radio Mindanao Network in Zamboanga City that they freed the Germans after receiving the ransom.
Rami had threatened to behead Okonek on Friday afternoon if Germany does not pay P250 million ransom on top of another demand for Berlin to cease all support to US coalition airstrikes against the Sunni jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which is fighting for the Islamic caliphate in the region.
The German yachters were intercepted at sea by the Abu Sayyaf on April 25 while heading to Sabah in Malaysia from a holiday in the Philippines.
Sources in Sulu said a private jet delivered 12 trolley bags containing ransoms in Jolo and that several bags full of money had been left in the plane.
It was unknown what role the military played in the ransom negotiations, but Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said: “The AFP has no information on that (ransom payments) but suffice to say that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other security forces do not and will not negotiate with terrorists and kidnappers.”
The release of the Germans came hours after Philippine security forces launched an operation in an effort to capture Abu Sayyaf militants holding foreign hostages in Sulu. The Abu Sayyaf had threatened to kill the hostages if the military launches a combat operation against the notorious group.
Officials said police and military, armed with arrest warrants, are presently intensifying law enforcement operations against the Abu Sayyaf, which recently pledged allegiance to ISIS.
“We have collaborated with the military in assisting us to intensify the conduct of law enforcement operations here in Sulu with the present situation that the province has been confronting. Currently, our military and police strengthens the conduct of patrols and checkpoints in order to serve the warrants of arrest to Abu Sayyaf bandits who are responsible for the series of kidnapping and other high profile crimes in the area,” Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Jr, head of the Special Anti-Kidnapping Task Force and the Joint Task Force ZAMBASULTA (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi), said in a statement released by the military’s Western Mindanao Command late Friday afternoon.
The Western Mindanao Command said police and military authorities are ready and willing to shift from law enforcement operations to tactical options should the special action committee of Sulu come up with a resolution that would allow security forces to advance with their operations.
“The Western Mindanao Command continues to support the PNP’s law enforcement operations under the guidance of the Special Actions Committee in Sulu,” said Lieutenant General Rustico Guerrero, head of the military command.
He said the ongoing joint police and military operations cover the implementation of warrants of arrest, search and seizure, and other law enforcement activities against the members of the Abu Sayyaf group.
The Philippine military has deployed K9 units in Sulu to help ground troops search for at least 7 foreigners being held by the Abu Sayyaf.
Marine Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokeswoman for Western Mindanao Command, said: “The K9 teams will help track down the Abu Sayyaf as military troops continue to pursue the bandits in their hiding places. Intensified law enforcement operations in coordination with the local government and the police are ongoing to facilitate rescue of kidnap victims and expedite the arrest of Abu Sayyafs in the province.”
Another Abu Sayyaf faction also threatened to kill Malaysian fish breeder Chan Sai Chuin, 32, who was kidnapped along with a Filipino worker on June 16 this year from a fish farm in the town of Kunak in Tawau District. The militants are demanding 3 million ringgits (P41 million) for the safe release of the fish breeder.
It is also holding captive a Malaysian policeman Kons Zakiah Aleip, 26, who was seized on June 12 also this year following a clash in Sabah that killed another policeman. The militants are demanding 5 million ringgits (P68.3 million)
The Abu Sayyaf is also holding a 64-year old Japanese treasure hunter Katayama Mamaito, who was kidnapped from Pangutaran Island in July 2010; and two European wildlife photographers Ewold Horn, 52, from Holland; and Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, from Switzerland, who were taken captive in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in the southern Tawi-Tawi province in 2012.
The 1st Infantry Division has sent two battalions of soldiers in Sulu to help in the operation, said Brigadier General Gerardo Barrientos, Jr. He said the new unit is “equally capable of addressing various threats and emergencies.” This was on top of 100 Special Forces soldiers from Zamboanga City that were sent to Sulu on October 8 to help other units fight the Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf group now has hundreds of members in the Muslim autonomous region. The military has failed to stop the growing influence and violent campaigns of the militant group because it did not sustain the combat operations needed to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf in the restive region.
http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/2014/10/philippine-military-keeps-sulu-peace.html
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