China, Philippines Reject US$10m Ransom DemandPhilippine and Chinese officials have rejected ransom demands for four Chinese and a Filipino kidnapped by renegade Muslim guerrillas, a Filipino official said on Thursday."Chinese officials told the Philippine government that they will not pay any ransom for the release of the hostages, but said they are hoping to see their citizens freed as soon as possible," said Jesus Dureza, a special presidential assistant for the southern Philippines. The Philippine government has been "regularly briefing the Chinese embassy on the progress of the situation ... but we will not pay a single centavo to the kidnappers," he said. The five captives are being held in the southern island of Mindanao by renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an Islamic separatist group that recently signed a ceasefire and is engaged in peace talks with Manila. The kidnappers, led by a certain Abu Hamsa, have demanded a US$10 million ransom for their safe release. They have also called for the Libyan embassy to intercede in the case, but the Libyans have refused to get involved. Army spokesman Major Julieto Ando said the hostages are believed to be held by Tahir Alonto, a leader of a kidnap gang operating in central and southern Mindanao who has links with Hamsa's group. Three Chinese, Zang Zong Yee, Wang Shung Li and Zho Zhing, and one Filipino guide, Edwin Lim, were seized on Sunday while delivering a five-million peso (US$94,339) ransom for Zang Zong Quiang, a Chinese engineer kidnapped in June. Zang is an engineer with China Import Export Technologies Inc., a Chinese firm working on an irrigation project in the area. Manila military chief General Diomedio Villanueva stressed the Chinese went out to pay the ransom on their own. They did not tell the authorities what they were doing and even eluded their security escorts, he said. Ando said the army was stepping up its intelligence efforts to pinpoint the captives. Dureza, who also heads the government negotiating panel with the MILF, said the Muslim rebels were not involved in the abduction, adding the MILF had even offered to help obtain the release of the five. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also said the MILF were not involved in the abduction and said his group was offering to rescue the captives. But Villanueva said the MILF should not launch any operation to get the hostages as it could endanger the ceasefire. Ando earlier said the military could not launch pursuit operations against the kidnappers for fear of violating the ceasefire by clashing with MILF forces believed to be in the same area as the kidnappers. |
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