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Philippine Military Optimistic about Safe Rescue of Chinese Hostage
Philippine Military chief General Diomedio Villanueva said on Wednesday he is optimistic that the remaining Chinese national held by a kidnap-for-ransom gang in the south would be recovered alive and unharmed.
General Villanueva, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, told reporters here that ground forces have already pinpointed the location of the kidnappers of Zhang Zhongyi and local Filipino Chinese businessman Edwin Lim in the province of Maguindanao.
"We already know where they (hostages) are being kept and there is a great chance they will be rescued alive," said Villanueva, who withheld the location so as not to jeopardize rescue operations.
He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the military to take maximum precautionary measures to rescue the hostages alive.
The Chinese government has requested the Philippine government to take all appropriate measures to have Zhang safely released as soon as possible since the killing of two other Chinese nationals.
The two Chinese nationals, Zhang's brother Zhang Zhongqiang and Xue Xing, were killed during an encounter between the kidnappers and the military in Maguindanao's neighboring province of Sultan Kudarat on August 19. A third Chinese national, Wang Shengli, managed to escape and was recovered by the military.
Zhang, Xue, Wang, together with Lim, were seized by the kidnappers on August 12 while trying to secure the release of Zhang Zhongqiang, who was kidnapped on June 20.
The four Chinese nationals were among some 60 employees of a Chinese company working on an irrigation project in the southern Philippines.
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