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.