From the Philippine Star (Jan 7): Foreign captives monitored in Sulu
A senior military officer confirmed that the four foreigners separately abducted
by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants have been monitored and appeared to be still
kept by the group in the mountains of Sulu.
Lt. Gen. Rey Ardo, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, confirmed the
report as he directed the military ground commanders to improve its
anti-kidnapping operations. Ardo said he urged their police counterpart to assign specific units for a
better coordination of the operation against the kidnapping syndicate groups in
the region. “The trust of running the kidnapping syndicate groups is in the law
enforcement of the police and ours is mainly to support them, but we have to
have mechanism because we want to improve our anti-kidnapping campaign,” Ardo
said.
He said the improvement of the anti-kidnapping mechanism must also involve
the local government units citing that the kidnappers were operating in
syndicated system. “Iba iyong dumudukot at ipapapasa nila sa iba’t-ibang grupo gaya ng Abu
Sayyaf,” Ardo said. Citing their latest monitoring report, Ardo said the four foreign captives
are still in areas in Sulu. However, Ardo did not specify whether there were direct sightings of the
victims by military forces on the ground.
The four foreign captives suspected to be held by the Abu Sayyaf group in
Sulu are Europeans Elwold Horn of Holland and Lorenzo Vinceguerre of
Switzerland; Australian Warren Richard Rodwell, and Jordanian broadcast
journalist Baker Atyani and his two Filipino crew Romelito Vela and Roland
Letrico. Horn and Vinceguerre, both wild bird watchers were abducted February last
year in Tawi-Tawi province; Rodwell who is married to a Filipino was forcibly
taken from his home in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay province on Dec. 5, 2011; while
Atyani and his crew were held captive after meeting with the Abu Sayyaf for an
interview last June in Sulu.
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/01/07/894282/foreign-captives-monitored-sulu
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