Palace vows to end Agusan hostage crisis

MANILA, Philippines -  Malacañang yesterday vowed to put an end to kidnapping activities and other security problems in Mindanao and expressed confidence that the hostage-taking incident in Agusan del Sur would be resolved peacefully following the release of a 13-year-old boy.

“Of course, if a crime is committed we have to solve it, but crime prevention is more important, more than anything else. Our focus is on crime prevention,” Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said.

Security concerns in Mindanao, according to Ochoa, highlight the need for the government to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and strengthen the crime prevention capability of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“The crisis would be resolved peacefully,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang told Palace reporters in a press briefing.

He said the release of teenager Marvin Corvera is a welcome development and the local crisis management committee would be able to save the hostages from the hands of their abductors at the soonest possible time.

In a statement, Ochoa said that steps were being taken to address the peace and order situation in Mindanao as he gave assurance that the kidnapping incident in Agusan del Sur was an isolated case.

Carandang assured the public that the government, headed by the local crisis management committee, is continuously exhausting all possible means to settle the hostage crisis.

He noted that the safety of the hostages is the government’s primary concern, adding that the negotiators are very patient in dealing with the situation.

Breaking the ‘language’ barrier

The authorities negotiating with the hostage-takers said the suspects’ poor education was hampering delicate talks about resolving the four-day-old crisis.

The gunmen released Corvera Monday night but kept at least 12 other hostages to demand the release of jailed relatives and friends in Agusan del Sur.

“The government now needs a negotiator who can explain the law to them,” said police Senior Superintendent Nestor Fajura, spokesman for the negotiating team.

“None of them even finished grade four, meaning they left school before the age of 10. We have been searching and trying to choose (a mediator) who they trust, who they respect and who can tell them in terms that they can easily grasp and understand the ramifications of their illegal demands,” Fajura said.

The government has rejected the gunmen’s demand, saying only the court can decide the fate of their relative.

The suspects said they don’t want a repetition of the Ondo Perez-led December 2009 hostage-taking incident, where he and his companions were duped by authorities.

Perez, who was arrested after taking hostage at least 76 people and forging an agreement with the authorities in 2009 to let the victims free in exchange for not being charged for the crime, was released on the second day of the hostage drama to help in the negotiations.

He was taken to jail and subsequently charged after turning in his hostages on that fateful December day.

The negotiators sent one of the gunmen’s fathers to their jungle hideout on Monday and persuaded them to free Corvera, military spokesman Maj. Julio Osias said. Two adult male hostages were also freed on Sunday.

Fajura said authorities remain particularly concerned about another hostage, a 10-year-old girl, who has been running a fever.

However, Manobo tribal leaders who are close relatives of the gunmen said only respected elders have moral ascendancy to convince the hostage-takers to go back into negotiations.

The gunmen allegedly got irked by the delaying tactics of authorities on their demands including food, water and medicine.

“One of the important issues that must be resolved in order to have long term solution to this crisis… is the long overdue problem of our ancestral domain conflict, which I believe can’t be solved because of credibility problem,” tribal sectoral chieftain Tunganay Esmundo Brital said.

Bae Bongkoran, chief of all tribal leaders in Bayugan and Prosperidad towns, told negotiators at the house of Mayor Alvin Magdamit that it is now high time for government negotiators to let tribal elders come in and convince the gunmen to free the hostages.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro raised the possibility of closing down public schools in areas where its host communities cannot provide adequate security and safety for its teachers and students.

“We will not hesitate to close a school if a community cannot assure the safety of our teachers,” Luistro warned.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party-list Rep. Rolando Tinio, on the other hand, accused the military of training the kidnappers.

Tinio said that there are “powerful political figures” protecting the groups, which had been tagged in a “pattern” of kidnapping of teachers in remote areas of Mindanao. – Delon Porcalla, Ding Cervantes, Ben Serrano, Rainier Allan Ronda, Jaime Laude