MANILA, Philippines -- Television reporter Ces Drilon and her crew who police said were abducted by local terror group Abu Sayyaf were "alive and well" and being treated fairly by their captors, an official said Tuesday.
"Pinapakain naman sila [They are being fed well], they are well and alive, hindi sila nakatali [they are not tied] and nakakalabas sila [they are able to move around] but they are being escorted," Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview, citing reports from the crisis management team formed to negotiate with Drilon’s captors.
Goltiao said that the ABS-CBN news team was intercepted Sunday in Maimbung, a township in the Sulu capital Jolo, by armed men under Albader Parad, an Abu Sayyaf leader in the area and Gapur Jundain, a former member of the Moro National Liberation Front who recently joined Abu Sayyaf.
Goltiao also denied reports circulating in website forums that Professor Octavio Dinampo of the Mindanao State University, who was also reported missing, along with Drilon and her crew, had been released.
"Hindi namin ma-confirm hangga't hindi namin nakikita [But we cannot confirm until we see him]...and we are more into Ces Drilon because we are still checking if he [Dinampo] is also a victim or whether he is in cahoots with the abductors," said Goltiao, adding that they were sure that the Abu Sayaff was behind the abduction.
Police Director General Avelino Razon meanwhile said they were verifying reports that the group had asked for ransom ranging from P10 million to P30 million.
But Razon clarified that these reports came from unofficial sources and were relayed to ABS-CBN, the network where Drilon and her crew Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama work for.
"The reports are very unclear at this point in time...and meron ibang sinabi ang [there are things that] ABS-CBN sa amin [told us] that we are not at liberty to reveal," Razon told reporters in Camp Crame.
"We are still verifying the information we got but because of the sensitivity of the situation, we are not to reveal details yet," said Razon, noting that police and even military units are conducting search operations.
Although Razon refused to call the situation a kidnapping, he has ordered the Intelligence Group and the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response, a police unit specializing in abductions, to join the operation in locating and saving Drilon and her team.
Razon added that they were also investigating the whereabouts of Dinampo.
"We are monitoring and following up, also the verification of status on Ces Drilon and two other members believed to be somewhere in Sulu. That is as far as the details we could give," added Razon.
omg. ang hirap talaga ng nsa lb, wala akong balita.
ReplyDeletenyerks! :) mamaya coup de etat na wala ka pa rin alam hehehe. katakot
ReplyDeleteonga e. petiks petiks pa kami dito paproven proven lang tas may ganyan na pala :p kelan pa po ung 'abduction?'
ReplyDeleteay nakita ko na sa inquirer.net. hehehe grabe scary namehn
ReplyDeletehehe :) kainggit naman, gisto ko rin ng proven!!!!!! i miss lb!!!!
ReplyDeleteAng bait naman ng PNP. Come to think of it, if it were the other way around, they would have aired a lot of stories against government for keeping information from the public. Isn't it ironic? Tsk tsk tsk...
ReplyDeleteactually naisip ko rin yan :) i dont think ABS would have done the same thing Razon or any media organization who followed the semi news black out did. I hope they learn their lesson well.
ReplyDeleteagree. sana in the future when the families of the victims of an abduction ask for privacy, i-respeto sana ng abscbn. in the past, sila pa unang susubo ng micropono. sabay naman yung iba with the killer question "how do you feel that your relative was kidnapped by the most notorious group in the country who have been known to chop their victims' heads?"
ReplyDeletedapat sagot dun "oh i feel fine. okay lang na our relative has one foot in the grave. seriously, we are fine."
how the hell else would they feel? geez.
hahaha! =) wala ko masabi.
ReplyDeletehahaha. ako din wala na masabi---except that i never did that! hahahahahaha. kaya nga ayoko sa mga storya na me mga oridnary people na biktima eh. at least sa pultika---banatan mo man iyan okay lang kasi mga pulitiko iyan. kasama sa trabaho nila iyan.
ReplyDeleteyan ang ok sa pulitika. madali mag SS hahaha
ReplyDeletegood thing you didn't! kasi nakakainis talaga mga ganung storya :p
ReplyDeletedi ako nagtagal sa disaster at crime eh. kasi naman---pag me umiiyak, inaantay ko magcalm down. pagka me disaster---ganun din. i feel na exploitative kasi, down na nga yung tao exploit mo pa. eh nakita rin nila, impakta din naman ako. ang ending---nilagay ako sa pulitika. dun ok magmakaimpakta.
ReplyDeleteoo dahil punong puno ng impakta ang pulitika!! :) pero i agree, i hate stories na down na nga ang tao, pagpepyestahan pa :)
ReplyDeletehehehe. but i must admit, nung prinesent si fr bossi ke pgma last year, di namin siya tinantanan ng malcanan press corps hanggang naiyak na siya sa pagod. in fairness to us-- di naman namin tinanong ng stupid questions.
ReplyDelete