Squabbles stall hostage release in Philippines

Squabbles stall hostage release in Philippines

JOLO, Philippines (Reuters): Rebels freed on Thursday a Filipino boy held captive for about two months in the southern Philippines but squabbling among government emissaries threatened to derail other promised releases.

Sources close to the government negotiating team said efforts to secure the freedom of seven Malaysians among dozens of mostly foreign hostages were also being hampered by disputes among the rebels over sharing of a huge ransom.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar denied Kuala Lumpur had paid ransom to free the Malaysians. Manila and other governments whose nationals are involved have also publicly insisted no ransom will be paid.

The Malaysians were among 21 people abducted by the Abu Sayyaf rebels from a Malaysian diving resort on April 23 and brought to the Philippines' southern Jolo island, 960 km south of Manila.

Two Malaysians and a German woman in the group have been released.

Philippine negotiators had expected the remaining Malaysians to be freed on Wednesday but said last-minute snags had developed.

On Thursday, as it became clear the Malaysians would likely not be freed, chief government negotiator Roberto Aventajado for the first time admitted to differences among members of his own negotiating team.

The problem, as Aventajado spelt it out, lay between him and local businessman Lee Peng Wee whom he had designated as a coordinator of the negotiations.

Interviewed on Manila's ANC News Channel, Aventajado said that despite agreement between him and rebel chief Galib Andang on who to use as emissaries, Lee was insisting on using other intermediaries.

"That's what I don't like about what's happening," Aventajado said. "Instead of helping solve this problem, the use of other intermediaries could worsen the situation."

Sources close to the negotiations said the rebels themselves were quarreling over how to divide the ransom money which had been sent to them packed in five cardboard boxes.

As a result, the Malaysian hostages had now been split into two groups, they said.

Andang was apparently holding three of the Malaysians while another group commanded by other rebel chiefs was holding the four others, they said.

The only bright note in a day of intrigues and confusing reports of the fate of the Malaysian hostages was the rebels' decision to release 17-year-old Filipino Richard Sintos, whom they had kidnapped on nearby Basilan island in May.

Police earlier identified the boy as Richard Quintos but corrected his name later.

Sintos, whose father was a soldier killed in an encounter with the Abu Sayyaf before he was kidnapped, told reporters he feared the rebels would also kill him "but I begged for mercy."

As dusk fell, an army colonel told journalists gathered at a military base on Jolo to go back to their hotels, saying he expected no other releases to take place.

The rebels are also holding 19 other captives, including a German reporter and three French television journalists seized earlier this month while covering the hostage drama, and 13 Filipino evangelists who went to the rebel bastion to pray for the hostages.

Two Filipina school teachers abducted on Basilan in March are also still in captivity.

The group of 21 seized in Malaysia comprised nine Malaysians, three Germans, two South Africans, two Finns, two French nationals, two Filipinos and a Lebanese.

Police sources and Manila newspapers said the rebels were paid 20 million pesos ($450,000) for the release of a Malaysian policeman and 40 million pesos ($890,000) for the freedom of German woman Renate Wallert.

Intelligence sources earlier said the Abu Sayyaf had demanded $3 million for the release of the rest of the Malaysians but a senior officer said his information was they wanted 12.5 million pesos ($288,000) for each.