The Philippine military on Wednesday rejected a call for negotiations by Muslim kidnappers who have threatened to behead a Chinese and a Filipino hostage.
"We shouldn't be negotiating with these kidnappers," said military chief General Diomedio Villanueva. "We cannot again place whole communities and the country hostage to the whims and desires of kidnappers."
Villanueva repeated the government's policy of refusing to pay ransoms for the two hostages being held by renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern island of Mindanao.
Two other Chinese hostages were killed while a third escaped during a gunbattle between the army and the kidnappers on Sunday.
China has expressed deep concern to the Philippine authorities over the deaths and demanded an explanation of the incident.
The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of US$10 million.
Villanueva said that according to military reports the kidnappers opened fire on the hostages even before the gunbattle with the military broke out.
"Our first consideration is the safety of the hostages," Villanueva said.
He said the gang holding the two hostages consisted of "more than a hundred armed kidnappers (so) I don't see how well you could resolve this in an ordinary way."
The Chinese were working for a firm building a Japan-funded irrigation project in the southern Philippines.
Philippine Vice-President and Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona has ordered an inquiry into the deaths of the two slain hostages, Xue Xin and Zhang Zhongqiang.
Kidnap leader Abu Hamsa told local radio station DXMS on Tuesday that his group "will negotiate with the families of our hostages if the military will cease operations."
But he warned his group would "kill, behead or execute the remaining hostages" unless the military halted operations in the area.
The Philippines is also dealing with another hostage crisis involving two Americans and 16 Filipinos in the southern island of Basilan.
The Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas holding the hostages have repeatedly eluded attempts to capture them despite the government sending more than 5,000 troops to the island.
Abu Sayyaf has killed at least 14 Filipino captives since the crisis began in May and is believed to have beheaded an American hostage, although his body has not yet been found.
(Chinadaily.com.cn 08/22/2001)
