Hostage-takers agree to wait for lawyer<\/p>\n
DAVAO (AFP): A group of prisoners who are holding five women
\nhostage in a southern Philippine penal colony have agreed on
\nSaturday to drop their demand for a getaway vehicle and to
\ninstead wait for a meeting with a Moslem lawyer.<\/p>\n
Dario Mahumot, leader of the hostage-takers said, in an
\ninterview aired over local radio station DXDC, that they would
\nnot leave the Davao penal colony but would wait for the lawyer
\ndispatched by an insurgent group.<\/p>\n
The eight prisoners, seven of whom claim to be members of the
\nMoro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) took five civilian women
\nprison employees hostage on Thursday using improvised weapons
\nmade out of iron bars and kitchen utensils.<\/p>\n
The prisoners, most of them serving time for common-law crimes
\nincluding robbery and murder, have threatened to kill their
\nhostages one by one and have kept police at a standoff for two
\ndays, initially demanding a vehicle.<\/p>\n
They demanded a helicopter to fly them to an MILF camp but
\nafter a dialogue with MILF military commander Mohammad Murad,
\nthey agreed to wait instead for a meeting with the lawyer who is
\nversed in Islamic law.<\/p>\n
It was not clear what the lawyer was supposed to do in meeting
\nthe prisoners.<\/p>\n
The hostage-takers had also asked to be transferred to an MILF
\ncamp but this was turned down.<\/p>\n
Jesus Dureza, an aide of Philippine President Fidel Ramos, who
\nwas dispatched to negotiate with the prisoners said \"I don't
\nthink this request (for a transfer) is possible but nonetheless,
\nI am happy that they are now toning down their position.\"<\/p>\n
Murad said the request for a transfer was also unlikely to be
\ngranted adding that they still had to confirm if these prisoners
\nreally were members of the MILF.<\/p>\n
Dureza had previously met with the MILF to discuss the
\nhostage-taking incident.<\/p>\n
The MILF, founded in 1978 and which has an estimated 10,000
\nguerrillas, is holding peace talks with the government which is
\nattempting to negotiate a political settlement with the last
\nmajor insurgency in Mindanao, the southern region that is home to
\nthe country's Moslem minority.<\/p>\n
Officials also said that relatives of the five hostages were
\nable to meet with them in the reception area where they are being
\nheld to provide provisions.<\/p>\n
The five women reportedly had no reports of mistreatment by
\nthe hostage-takers but were afraid the police would rush the
\nplace, prompting the hostage-takers to pull the pin on five
\ngrenades they had obtained.<\/p>\n
Dureza said he had got the Ramos government to act immediately
\non one of the prisoners' demands -- the replacement of prison
\nsuperintendent Jose Poblacion and for prison guards to pull back.
\nHowever, he ruled out giving them a getaway vehicle.<\/p>\n
\"We have to act fast in critical situations like this,\" he
\nsaid earlier, recalling a similar incident in 1989 when a group
\nof prisoners took an Australian missionary hostage, gang-raped
\nand then murdered her.<\/p>\n
The hostage-takers then were later shot dead after police
\nlaunched an assault. \"We will not allow this thing to happen
\nagain,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Dureza said he \"warned them not to harm the hostages,\"
\notherwise all prior agreements would be called off.<\/p>\n
He said he had been informed that \"the night passed without
\nanything major happening.\"<\/p>\n
Prison officials have said the hostage-takers had also made
\nother demands including the building of a mosque in the prison.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hostage-takers-agree-to-wait-for-lawyer-1447893297",
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