Foreign captives monitored in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - 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.