Click here to read
more about press freedom conditions in the PHILIPPINES
New York, July 31, 2000 --- Citing security concerns, foreign
news agencies pulled out their teams yesterday from the southern Philippine
island of Jolo, where 16 journalists have been kidnapped over the
past two months by various factions of the militant Islamic rebel
group Abu Sayyaf. 
All the journalists were abducted while covering a three-month-old
hostage crisis that began on April 23, when Abu Sayyaf guerrillas
kidnapped 21 people from a Malaysian diving resort.
The pullout occurred despite the July 29 release of two Filipino journalists
and the release of a German reporter on July 27. Still in captivity
are three French journalists, who were abducted on July 9. (The other
ten journalists were held for several hours on June 2, and then released
after they paid a US$25,000 ransom.)
Wire services have reported more armed checkpoints and other military
presence around Jolo town in the past week. On July 26, a Manila-based
reporter told CPJ that foreign correspondents were considering petitioning
the government for armed protection but would leave the island if
security conditions did not improve.
On July 28, Philippine government officials said they could not guarantee
the safety of journalists on Jolo and recommended that they leave,
according to local and international news reports.
All but about a dozen Filipino journalists working
for foreign news agencies and local publications had left the island
by last Friday, according to Agence France-Presse. On Sunday, ten
photographers, reporters and television crew members left Jolo on
a midday ferry, and will continue to cover the crisis from 95 miles
away in Zamboanga City, said an Associated Press report. It is not
clear whether any local stringers are still working on Jolo.
CPJ has documented the following kidnappings of journalists on Jolo
since June 1:
- On June 2, ten foreign journalists were held for 10 hours until
they pooled together their own funds to pay a US$25,000 ransom.
- On July 2, Der Spiegel reporter Andreas Lorenz was kidnapped
by a splinter faction of the Abu Sayyaf. Lorenz, who had been among
the group held on June 2, was released on July 27.
- On July 9, three France 2 journalists---reporter Maryse Burgot
and cameramen Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland Madura---were abducted.
They are currently being held with the remaining 14 hostages from
the Malaysian resort, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
France 2 sources told CPJ that they have received a letter from
the captured journalists, who claimed to be holding up well. According
to France 2 and international news reports, the Philippine government
is currently negotiating their release.
- On July 24, two Filipino journalists, ABS-CBN cameraman Val Cuenca
and researcher/writer Maan Macapagal, were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas. They were released on Saturday, July 29, reportedly
after the intervention of Abu Sayyaf leader Radulon Sajiron, whose
nephew's faction had kidnapped them. Both the Philippine government
and ABS-CBN denied that a ransom was paid for the journalists' release.
However, Cuenca and Macapagal told AFP that their captors wanted
a ransom to buy arms in order to defend themselves against a government
offensive, which they expect after all the hostages have been released.
END
|
