Philippine bandits free 10 hostages
Source: Agencies |
December 12, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GOVERNMENT-ARMED former militiamen freed 10 more hostages seized in the remote southern Philippines, and their leader demanded yesterday that murder charges against them be dropped before they release 47 others.
The abductions on Thursday by 15 gunmen raised new questions over the Philippines' long-standing policy of arming civilian volunteers to protect against insurgencies.
Just a day earlier, 100 other militiamen in the south were named suspects in the killing of 57 people in the country's worst political massacre, prompting the government to order a review of its security policy.
Hours after the kidnappings, a government negotiator persuaded the gunmen to free 17 schoolchildren and an elderly woman among more than 70 people they initially seized.
As negotiations resumed yesterday, the gunmen released 10 more -- eight women and two men -- negotiator Josefina Bajade said.
"There will be another round of negotiations for the remaining hostages," Bajade said. "We cannot get them all in one go."
Police said they were trying to arrest two brothers among the gunmen on murder charges.
One of the brothers, Joebert Perez, the gang leader who was negotiating with Bajade, met with reporters outside three huts where the hostages were being held.
Perez said the charges against him were fabricated and blamed a rival clan, the Tubays, for the killing of six of his siblings since last year. He demanded that police disarm the enemy clan before the remaining hostages are released.
The abductors refused to free the others despite promises that they will be allowed to keep their weapons and be protected at the local Roman Catholic bishop's residence, Vice Governor Santiago Cane said.
The gunmen insisted the arrest warrants against them be quashed, Cane said.
Disarming the clans
Nestor Fajura, provincial police operations officer, said the negotiations with the gunmen included the disarming of both clans. "The Perezes will not disarm if the Tubays have the firearms. So both will be disarmed," he said.
Some of the hostages sat on the grass watching as Perez, a man in his 30s sporting a shaved head, was interviewed.
He was armed with an M-16 rifle and held a grenade in his hand.
The hostage-takers in San Martin hamlet are former militiamen who had been dismissed and turned to banditry and extortion, targeting mining and logging companies in the area, police Chief Superintendent Jaime Milla said.
For decades, the government has armed civilian volunteers -- often poorly trained -- as a backup security force in areas with communist or Muslim insurgencies.
Human rights groups have called on the Philippines to stop arming civilians, saying the region is already awash with weapons from the continuing conflicts.
The abductions on Thursday by 15 gunmen raised new questions over the Philippines' long-standing policy of arming civilian volunteers to protect against insurgencies.
Just a day earlier, 100 other militiamen in the south were named suspects in the killing of 57 people in the country's worst political massacre, prompting the government to order a review of its security policy.
Hours after the kidnappings, a government negotiator persuaded the gunmen to free 17 schoolchildren and an elderly woman among more than 70 people they initially seized.
As negotiations resumed yesterday, the gunmen released 10 more -- eight women and two men -- negotiator Josefina Bajade said.
"There will be another round of negotiations for the remaining hostages," Bajade said. "We cannot get them all in one go."
Police said they were trying to arrest two brothers among the gunmen on murder charges.
One of the brothers, Joebert Perez, the gang leader who was negotiating with Bajade, met with reporters outside three huts where the hostages were being held.
Perez said the charges against him were fabricated and blamed a rival clan, the Tubays, for the killing of six of his siblings since last year. He demanded that police disarm the enemy clan before the remaining hostages are released.
The abductors refused to free the others despite promises that they will be allowed to keep their weapons and be protected at the local Roman Catholic bishop's residence, Vice Governor Santiago Cane said.
The gunmen insisted the arrest warrants against them be quashed, Cane said.
Disarming the clans
Nestor Fajura, provincial police operations officer, said the negotiations with the gunmen included the disarming of both clans. "The Perezes will not disarm if the Tubays have the firearms. So both will be disarmed," he said.
Some of the hostages sat on the grass watching as Perez, a man in his 30s sporting a shaved head, was interviewed.
He was armed with an M-16 rifle and held a grenade in his hand.
The hostage-takers in San Martin hamlet are former militiamen who had been dismissed and turned to banditry and extortion, targeting mining and logging companies in the area, police Chief Superintendent Jaime Milla said.
For decades, the government has armed civilian volunteers -- often poorly trained -- as a backup security force in areas with communist or Muslim insurgencies.
Human rights groups have called on the Philippines to stop arming civilians, saying the region is already awash with weapons from the continuing conflicts.
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