Fidel Ramos vows to rid Mindanao of violent crime

Fidel Ramos vows to rid Mindanao of violent crime

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): President Fidel Ramos yesterday
vowed to rid the country's southern Mindanao region of violent
crime after a priest was freed unharmed but an ethnic Chinese
businessman was found murdered by suspected Moslem kidnappers.

Father Cirilo Nacorda, 36, arrived at a military hospital in
this southern city for a medical check-up after the rebel Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF) obtained his release from the
Abu Sayyaf, a radical Moslem armed group.

The priest was freed in Basilan island before dawn Monday,
less than 24 hours after the hogtied remains of businessman and
Philippine Olympic Committee official So Kim Cheng, 67, was found
by residents in the southern city of Davao.

Davao police said former MNLF guerrillas who have turned to
banditry are suspected to be behind the abduction and murder of
So, who headed the country's table tennis federation.

"The existence of violent crime and criminal terrorist gangs
in this area and Mindanao (region) itself could largely negate
much of the attractiveness of the southern Philippines to our
EAGA (East Asian Growth Area) partners and other investors,"
Ramos said on his return from a weekend visit to Brunei.

The government is trying to integrate the Mindanao economy
with contiguous areas of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia into the
proposed EAGA under the concept of a growth triangle.

"Criminals and terrorists we must fight, suppress and control
with greater effectiveness so that a long-term condition of peace
and security will reign everywhere in Mindanao," Ramos added.

The Philippine leader flew direct to this southern city from
Bandar Seri Begawan to inaugurate the new international terminal
at Zamboanga airport, which replaced the old terminal destroyed
by an Abu Sayyaf bomb last year.

Police and military spokesmen here said Father Nacorda was
released before dawn at a village near Tumahubong town, following
negotiations between the Abu Sayyaf and Jan Jakilan, an MNLF
leader in Basilan.

The MNLF, which launched a failed separatist war for the
Moslem minority in the early 1970s, is now engaged in peace talks
with the Manila government aimed at the eventual grant of Moslem
self-rule in some areas of Mindanao.

It was not immediately clear what the Abu Sayyaf exacted in
exchange for the priest's liberty, although government television
reported in Manila that no ransom had been paid. The Abu Sayyaf
had previously demanded three million pesos (US$111,111).

Vice President Joseph Estrada said in an interview aired over
radio station DZXL in Manila that the MNLF approached the Basilan
provincial government and "volunteered to negotiate for the
release of Father Nacorda."

He said he gave Basilan Governor Jerry Salapuddin
authorization to deal with the MNLF, on condition that the
government policy against ransoms was observed.

Nacorda was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf group on June 8 along
with a group of Christian commuters. Fifteen fellow male hostages
were executed on the same day, while a boy escaped with a wound
by playing dead.

Twenty other hostages, mostly women, were freed about a week
later after a ransom was paid.