Headless body turned over to Canadian embassy

MANILA, Philippines - The headless body of a man who looks like a Caucasian, believed to be Canadian John Ridsdel, has been turned over to the Canadian embassy.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ricardo Marquez said the headless body, which was found in Barangay Gata, Talipao in Sulu, was flown to Heritage Park in Taguig yesterday morning.

Marquez said police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) conducted the autopsy on the body at the Heritage Park.

Ridsdel was one of four hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf since last September. 

The kidnappers had issued a ransom deadline that lapsed Monday. His severed head was found in a plastic bag along a street in Jolo town.

On Wednesday, a headless cadaver of a Caucasian male was found in Talipao but authorities have yet to confirm if it was Ridsdel’s.

There was no indication that the victim was beheaded in the area where it was found “due to the absence of blood stains in the scene,” according to a police investigator.

Ridsdel was among four hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf in Samal Island last September.

The three remaining hostages – fellow Canadian Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sikkengstad and Filipina Maritess Flor – are still being held by the bandit group, along with other foreigners, including 14 crewmen of an Indonesian tugboat. Four Malaysian seamen are also being held.

President Aquino has promised to devote his remaining days in office to crushing the Abu Sayyaf. Fourteen bandits have been killed in continued shelling of their stronghold in Jolo since Tuesday, a military spokesman said.

The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) yesterday condemned the murder of Ridsdel.

“AmCham extends its deepest condolences to the Ridsdel family, friends and others close to this remarkable man,” the group said in a statement.

AmCham said Ridsdel was well known to the American business community in Manila, where he was based for many years.

“He was a strong believer in the development of the Philippines, to which he contributed as the senior executive of a mining company known for its highly responsible practices,” AmCham said.

“John Ridsdel had decided to retire in the Philippines. He made many friends among many nationalities and loved to sail among the islands from his base at Puerto Galera. It was when he responded from his boat moored on Samal Island to a call for help from a neighboring boat that he was seized,” it said.

AmCham joined the call on the government to bring the killers of Ridsdel to justice and to implement policies that will bring improved security and peace and development to areas in Mindanao where the Abu Sayyaf and other criminal elements operate. 

Officials, on the other hand, are discussing coordinated naval patrols on its southern maritime borders with Indonesia and Malaysia to protect shipping after attacks and kidnappings by Islamist militants.

Foreign Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said the government is proposing separate but coordinated patrols to identify safe corridors where ships can travel.

Indonesia last week called for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia. Joint patrols would involve ships from the three navies patrolling together and crossing into each other’s territorial waters.

Officials from the three sides are due to meet in Jakarta on May 5 to discuss cooperation.

“The issue is safety and security,” Almendras said.

“It’s called coordinated patrols, we’ll do our patrols and they will have their own patrols in their own territorial waters so there will be no more threats to the movement of ships, including the kidnapping of sailors.”

Two Indonesian coal ports have blocked ships from leaving for the Philippines and Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state due to security concerns.

The growing frequency of maritime attacks has affected coal trade between the Southeast Asian neighbors – Indonesia, the world’s largest thermal coal exporter, and the Philippines, which relies on Jakarta for 70 percent of its coal imports. – Roel Pareño