The Philippine military chief on Tuesday vowed consistent efforts to hunt down the alleged Abu Sayyaf militants who have held three employees of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) as hostage for five days in southern Philippine jungles.
"If we slacken the pressure, then there will be more freedom of movement for the group of kidnappers so I guess pressure by the military should be maintained, sustained so that we can contain them in an area," Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Alexander Yano told reporters in the army's headquarters in Metro Manila.
Yano's pledge came a day after the victims made the latest phone contact with ICRC officers in the Philippines and reportedly relayed the abductors' request for suspension of military operations in Abu Sayyaf's stronghold Sulu province.
The military chief said rescue operations will only be halted when the Crisis Management Committee, a multi-sectoral body that is headed by Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan, requests for it.
The hostages, Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Marie Jean Lacaba, were snatched by a group of unidentified armed men last Thursday in Patikul town of Sulu shortly after they inspected a prison facility's water and sanitation conditions there.
The victims were believed to be delivered to followers of Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad, police and military officials said.
Meanwhile, the Switzerland-based ICRC on Tuesday maintained that the international humanitarian body has no direct contact with the abductors and received no demand for ransom, despite the media speculation of 5 million U.S. dollars being requested by the militants.
Florian Westphal, spokesperson of ICRC in Geneva, told Xinhua over phone that ICRC has not sent representatives to Sulu for negotiation and the agency discouraged media speculation to avoid jeopardizing its employees' safety.
Jean-Daniel Tauxe, ICRC's head of delegation in Manila, said the ICRC staff, however, are doing the best to check on the reported ransom amount's possible accuracy through a range of contacts.
"What we know for sure is that the three are alive, and we want their safe return. I am not in a position to comment further as I do not want to jeopardize our colleagues' safety, nor do I want to speculate on rumors," he said on a statement posted on ICRC's website.
Jolo Island is known as a stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, notorious for a string of high-profile kidnap-for-ransom cases in Philippines, including the abduction of 21 European tourists from Malaysia to Jolo in 2000, which ends peacefully after massive ransom was reportedly paid.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)