TOP BROADCAST JOURNALIST ABDUCTED IN MINDANAO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANILA 001399 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2018 TAGS: PTER MOPS PINS RP SUBJECT: TOP BROADCAST JOURNALIST ABDUCTED IN MINDANAO REF: A. MANILA 1352 (BASILAN UNREST MIRRORS UNSETTLED PEACE PROCESS) ¶B. MANILA 1030 (MILITARY CONDUCTS STRIKE AGAINST TERRORIST CAMP) ¶C. 2007 MANILA 3800 (STANDOFF WITH COUP PLOTTERS ENDS PEACEFULLY) Classified By: Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A popular Philippine television JOURNALIST was reportedly kidnapped by the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) on June 8, in an isolated area of Jolo Island, southern Philippines, while en route to a putative interview with ASG leader Radulan Sahiron. President Arroyo immediately ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) "to investigate, run after the perpetrators, and bring back the victims alive and well" and instructed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to cooperate with the PNP and "exhaust all measures" to locate Drilon and her crew. In conjunction with an uptick in armed confrontations between Muslim insurgent groups and Philippine Marines, the May 29 bombing in Zamboanga that apparently targeted Philippine Marines at Edwin Andrews Air Base, a peace process that has been stalled since December, and the pullout of the Malaysian contingent from the International Monitoring Team, Drilon's abduction constitutes part of a disturbing pattern of increased activity by various actors in Mindanao. END SUMMARY -------------- JOURNALIST, THREE OTHERS KIDNAPPED IN SULU -------------- ¶2. (U) Popular ABS-CBN television reporter Ces Drilon and two news crew members were abducted by armed men under Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) leader Albader Parad on June 8 in an isolated area on Jolo Island, Sulu Province, in southern Mindanao. They were reportedly en route to what they believed was a special interview with wanted ASG leader Radulan Sahiron, without coordinating with the military, police, and local government. The crew's guide, peace advocate and Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo, was also taken, while a fifth hostage, the driver, was released the following day. The kidnappers have reportedly demanded a ransom of 25 million pesos (approximately $560,000 USD) for the release of the hostages. While Philippine media giant ABS-CBN issued a statement indicating that it would not pay the ransom, news chief Maria Ressa, who was in touch with Drilon after she was reported missing, assured the public ABS-CBN had "people on the ground talking." -------------- POPULAR TELEVISION PERSONA -------------- ¶3. (U) Cecilia Victoria "Ces" Drilon, a wellknown, award-winning broadcast journalist, is a senior correspondent for media giant ABS-CBN Network, the largest television and radio network in the Philippines. Drilon is virtually a household name, having covered most of the major news stories in the Philippines in the last two decades, including the 1989 coup attempt against former President Corazon Aquino, the 1990 earthquake in Baguio, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, and the Magdalo rebels' takeover of the Manila Peninsula hotel in November 2007. Drilon was with Magdalo leader Senator Antonio Trillanes, Brigadier Danilo Lim and 25 other Magdalo officers when they walked out of their trial, marched through the streets of Makati City calling for the ouster of President Arroyo and seized the Peninsula hotel (ref C). Drilon was among the 30 journalists arrested by the police after the Peninsula takeover. She denied police allegations that she had prior knowledge of the takeover but admitted that she spoke with Senator Trillanes on the eve of the incident. Drilon and her crew were the second team of journalists from the ABS-CBN to be kidnapped in Sulu in the past eight years. The Abu Sayyaf Group has abducted at least 20 journalists since 2000, most of them foreign correspondents. -------------- ASG LEADER PARANG SUSPECTED -------------- ¶4. (C) Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Police Director Joel Goltiao identified the primary suspects in the kidnapping as Albader Parad and Gafur Jumdail. Parad is an ASG sub-group leader who has long been involved in kidnap-for-ransom and extortion activities on Jolo. During MANILA 00001399 002 OF 003 the runup to the May 14, 2007, elections, Parad's group allegedly kidnapped and beheaded seven persons on Jolo when then Sulu Governor Benjamin Loong refused to pay ransom. Parad was later implicated in the August 9, 2007, ambush and killing of 11 Philippine soldiers in Indanan. The armed encounters that followed left a total of 26 Philippine soldiers dead, the largest number of casualties on a single day during recent years, according to then-Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon. Among Parad's more recent kidnapping victims was Maria Rosalie Lao, a Filipino-Chinese businesswoman who was abducted in Jolo City on January 18 and later released after the payment of ransom money to Parad's group. Jumdail is a Jolo-based criminal with a long list of kidnappings under his belt, including the April 1 kidnapping of a school supervisor and several teachers as they were en route to graduation rites at a local elementary school in Maimbung. One week later, Jumdail allegedly kidnapped six other persons as they were traveling through the Maimbung area in a jeep. All of the hostages were released upon the payment of ransom money. -------------- ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE -------------- ¶5. (U) Immediately after the story broke June 10, President Arroyo ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) "to investigate, run after the perpetrators, and bring back the victims alive and well." She also instructed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to "exhaust all measures" to locate Drilon and her crew and help find information leading to the arrest of those involved in the crime. The PNP immediately took the lead in the search for the abducted media crew, in close coordination with the military, ABS-CBN, and the crisis management committee formed by the provincial government of Sulu. Police regional director for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Joel Goltiao said the police and the Sulu crisis management team received communication from the abductors, and confirmed that Drilon and her crew were alive, well, and being treated fairly. PNP chief Avelino Razon ordered police intelligence units and the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) team, which specializes in kidnap for ransom cases, to join police operations in locating Drilon and her team. Similarly, AFP Chief of Staff Alexander Yano ordered the troops in Sulu to monitor closely and be on standby to assist police in the search and rescue operations. -------------- MUSLIM CONDEMNATION -------------- ¶6. (U) Local Muslim leaders were quick to act on the situation. Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan immediately formed a crisis management committee to work on the release of the hostages but advised that, in the future, journalists covering hostile areas should make the necessary coordination with local authorities for their own safety. ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan -- up for reelection in August -- condemned the abductions and urged Muslim leaders in Sulu "to use their influence in securing the safety of the victims." Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy chair Amina Rasul urged authorities to try to resolve the situation peacefully. International media watchdogs Reporters without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists joined the local media and peace organizations in strongly condemning the abduction and calling for the immediate release of the hostages. -------------- LEGISLATORS WEIGH IN -------------- ¶7. (U) Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan immediately called for the military, police, and local leaders to "leave no stone unturned" and hold the perpetrators accountable. He noted "the dire manifestation of dangers facing our journalists in the practice of their profession" and pointed to the need for strengthening the rule of law by "punishing more and punishing fast." Senator Rodolfo Biazon, Defense Committee Chairman, warned that the ASG is again at its kidnap-for-ransom activities, which are "costing the lives of soldiers and civilians, complicating security operations of the AFP and PNP, and affecting the peace process in Mindanao." Senators Loren Legarda and Ramon Revilla stressed journalists' status as noncombatants that should be treated as such even in conflict areas. For his part, House Speaker Prospero Nograles stated that he and Mindanao leaders were "worried" about the safety of the news team as well as the effect of the incident on the Philippine image MANILA 00001399 003 OF 003 internationally. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) While Drilon's kidnapping may prove to be merely a crime of opportunity, it is yet one more in a series of events that are further complicating an already complex and tense situation in Mindanao. Coupled with an uptick in armed confrontations between Muslim insurgent groups and Philippine Marines (ref a),the May 29 bombing in Zamboanga that apparently targeted Philippine Marines at Edwin Andrews Air Base, a peace process that has been stalled since December, and the pullout of the Malaysian contingent from the International Monitoring Team, Drilon's abduction constitutes part of a pattern of increased activity by the various actors in Mindanao. The abduction could be an attempt by the ASG to reassert its capacity to wage attacks after the surgical strike recently launched by the AFP against one of its major camps (ref B),or it could signal that the ASG is in desperate need of funds. Either way, this incident will be a test of new AFP Chief of Staff General Yano; how he handles this situation will say much about what's in store in Mindanao in the next few months. KENNEY