Ces Drilon kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf in Sulu

ABU Sayyaf bandits have kidnapped ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and her two assistants in Sulu, demanding P20 million for their freedom.

A military intelligence report said Drilon and two colleagues, cameraman Jimmyfred Encarnacion and a driver, were taken to an area near Mt. Tumatangis in Indanan, Sulu.

Drilon’s team arrived in Jolo, Sulu, from Zamboanga City on Saturday and stayed at the SSC Hostel. They were supposed to interview the one-armed Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron.

Sahiron, who carries a $200,000 bounty from the US government, planned the 2004 bombing in Jolo that killed 11 Filipino civilians and an American serviceman and wounded more than 200 others.

Known as Commander Putol because of his amputated right arm, Sahiron is also considered one of the masterminds of the April 2000 kidnapping of 21 foreign tourists in Sipadan.

At 8 a.m. Sunday, Drilon’s team met with Octavio Dinampo, a professor at the Mindanao State University-Sulu, who is affiliated with the Moro National Liberation Front.

Bandits led by Albader Parad and Gapul Jumdail blocked the yellow Tamaraw jeep that Drilon and her team were riding in Kulasi village in Maimbung, Sulu.

Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said they were surprised to learn that Drilon was in the area.

He said Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan would head any negotiations with Drilon’s captors.

Intelligence reports put the ransom sought at P20 million, but Goltiao said the bandits had made no demands as of 5 p.m.

He said Drilon arrived Saturday via SEAIR “to cover a special event” on Dinampo’s invitation.

“The following day, Sunday, they were sent a text by Dinampo from the Sulu State University hostel where he is staying. Along the way, they were flagged down by Parad’s group,” Goltiao said.

The police chief said the group that took Drilon was the same one that held Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino for a few days in Sulu before releasing him in February.

Sources in Camp Aguinaldo said the Armed Forces had offered Drilon two Marine colonels to serve as security, but she declined the offer.

Presidential Adviser on Sulu Affairs Amilbabar Amilasan confirmed that Drilon and her crew were missing, but Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgar Arevalo could not say if she had indeed been kidnapped.

A high-ranking official from the Western Mindanao Command declined to give details on the abduction, citing a request from ABS-CBN for a news blackout for the safety of Drilon and her two colleagues.

Drilon has covered skirmishes between the Muslim separatists and government troops before. She also covered the release of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi by the Abu Sayyaf last year.

Drilon’s group was the second from the TV network to be kidnapped in Sulu. In July 2000, reporter Maan Macapagal and her cameraman Val Cuenca were also kidnapped.

Freelance journalist Arlyn dela Cruz was similarly kidnapped in Sulu while covering the Abu Sayyaf in April 2002. Florante S. Solmerin, Rene Alviar, Joyce Pangco Pañares, Jaime Pilapil.