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DELIVERY
'A good day for freedom'
By Noralyn Mustafa,
Alexander Young
and Julie Alipala-Inot
PDI Mindanao Bureau
See related story:
Libyan 'humanitarian' claims disputed
Aventajado says another
hostage will be released
today
JOLO, Sulu--"It's a good
day for freedom," a
government official said
as he waited yesterday
morning with Filipino and
Libyan negotiators at an
Army outpost on the hot, sunny island of Jolo.
But at an Abu Sayyaf mountain camp about 10 kilometers
away,
South African hostage Monique Strydom, her face wet with
tears, and her husband Callie enfolded each other in a
tight,
poignant embrace as a government emissary barked an
order for
"the ladies" to "get ready" to leave.
And so some were freed and others left behind on the
126th day
of a drawn-out hostage crisis, eight days after Libya
allegedly
agreed to pay $1 million each for 12 Caucasians among a
group
of local and foreign hostages.
Chief negotiator Robert Aventajado, in a news conference
last
night, said he did not have any control over the fact
that only
four women and one man, and not six Westerners as
reportedly
agreed upon, had been released by the Abu Sayyaf
kidnappers.
Later, he announced that the gunmen would release Carel
"Callie" Strydom today after freeing Monique and the
four
others yesterday.
At the press conference, Aventajado said he was not in
the
position to choose whom the hostage-takers would free.
But he
mentioned a "global agreement" with the kidnappers on
the
release of the remaining hostages, although he did not
elaborate.
The gunmen said in a rare statement issued earlier that
they
would hand over the four women "as an exchange for the
effort
of Libya to convince the Europeans to pressure
(President
Estrada) not to launch a military attack."
They added that "the rest of the hostages will be
released when
Libya has proven its commitment on livelihood,"
referring to a
Libyan offer of development aid believed to be worth
millions of
dollars.
The kidnappers released Monique, Sonia Wendling and
Maryse
Burgot of France, Lebanese-French national Marie
Michelle
Moarbes and German Werner Wallert.
But the gunmen held on to seven Western men-Callie;
Wallert's
27-year-old son Marc; Frenchmen Stephane Loisy, Jean le
Garrec and Roland Madura; and Finns Seppo Fraenti and
Risto
Vahanen.
President Estrada, in a telephone interview with a cable
TV
station, said he expected the rest of the captives to be
freed this
week.
Soured freedom
For the released captives, the taste of freedom was
soured by
anxiety over the fate of their loved ones and friends.
"You don't expect me to be happy. My son is still
there," said
Wallert, 57, a schoolteacher from northern Germany.
Wallert will
join his wife Renate, 56, who was freed July 18 on
humanitarian
grounds.
"We're not happy," Moarbes, 32, told a French television
station. "The boys have been left behind.
"As long as there is someone out there, we won't be
happy. I am
not happy--I am relieved," she added.
All but one of the freed hostages were kidnapped on
April 23
while vacationing at the Malaysian diving resort of
Sipadan.
The other, Burgot, was seized with two other French
television
journalists last month when they visited the rebel camp.
The kidnappers still also hold at least 15 Filipinos
hostage.
'Thank you, thank you'
"We will not stop until we succeed in releasing all of
them,"
Aventajado told reporters.
"The work continues," said Press Secretary Ricardo Puno
Jr. in
Malaca�ang.
Libyan envoy Rajab Azzarouq, who is scheduled to
accompany
the released captives to Libya today to meet with
Moammar
Gadhafi before the five are flown to their own
countries,
promised to return to the Philippines as soon as he
dropped off
the group in Tripoli.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your help,"
Moarbes
told Azzarouq when the hostages were handed over to the
negotiators at the Army outpost.
The military estimates the rebels have already been paid
more
than P245 million for the earlier releases of other
captives.
All of the hostages were to have been released last
week, but
that plan failed when Libya offered to pay only $700,000
per
captive instead of the $1 million demanded by the
guerrillas.
The gunmen refused to free the Western hostages in one
batch
as President Estrada had demanded. Mr. Estrada has since
given Aventajado the authority to make adjustments on
the
ground.
Manila and Libya have denied paying ransom, but police
last
Thursday detained two alleged Abu Sayyaf bagmen with
$240,000 in suspected ransom money.
'It's now or never'
"It's now or never," Aventajado said yesterday before
leaving
for the military outpost to wait for intermediary
Ernesto Pacuno,
a retired colonel codenamed "Dragon," to return with the
released hostages.
At the base in Tagbak, Indanan, Aventajado hummed an old
Elvis Presley song, also titled "It's Now or Never."
Later, after the five Westerners were brought to the
outpost,
emotions were more mixed.
"I feel wonderful," Wendling, 34, said--then started to
cry.
Burgot, 36, said the hostages only learned of the
release five
minutes before they were actually freed.
"A lot of tears were shed," said Dragon.
A French television crew recorded events surrounding the
release on video tape: the Strydoms hugging each other
tightly;
Dragon meeting with Abu Sayyaf leaders Galib Andang and
Mujib Susukan; Moarbes and Monique crying on each
other's
shoulder during the bumpy ride from the camp to freedom.
The freed hostages were brought in a green Tamaraw
chartered
by the Abu Sayyaf to the army camp where they were
turned
over to the waiting negotiators at 4:05 p.m.
By 6 p.m., the first of three helicopters bearing the
Westerners
and the negotiators, as well as selected journalists,
landed at the
Edwin Andrews Air Force Base in Zamboanga City, where
European and South African envoys waited with a horde of
local and foreign media men.
16-hour flight
In Lapulapu City, a C-130 plane carrying the five freed
hostages
from Zamboanga landed at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Airport
at
exactly 7:30 p.m.
They were immediately whisked to a waiting van and
brought to
the Tactical Operations Command Center, the base of the
Air
Force in Cebu, where a band was playing to welcome them.
Maj. Guillermo Molina, the provincial Air Force
information
officer, said the hostages would be subjected to
"routine"
customs and immigration processing.
They were supposed to leave last night for the 16-hour
flight to
Libya, but plans changed when Aventajado announced
Callie
Strydom's possible release.
The departure was moved to today.
Alex Shevchuk, pilot of the Libyan plane, told the
INQUIRER
that the jet was scheduled to refuel in the United Arab
Emirates
before proceeding to Libya.
Shevchuk said there were five medical officers on board
the
aircraft to check the health of the hostages.
Lost for words
Monique Strydom's family was lost for words but not
happiness
as they celebrated the end of her four months in
captivity.
"I am so excited. I really don't know what to say," an
emotional
Monica Aggenbag, Monique's mother, said in Johannesburg.
Strydom's father, Hennie Aggenbag, said the family would
celebrate with champagne and a traditional South African
barbecue on the sunny spring day.
In France, the parents of Loisy, one of the French
hostages still
being held, welcomed the releases.
"We rejoice at the release of Sonia--the partner of our
son
Stephane--and of the four other hostages," said Lucien
Loisy,
Stephane's father, reading from a prepared statement.
But Sonia Wendling's family tempered their joy at news
of her
release with thoughts for her boyfriend.
"It's an enormous relief, said Jean Wendling, Sonia's
father. But
he added: "I'm thinking most of all of Stephane Loisy,
who had
to stay behind."
Gadhafi group happy
The Gadhafi Charitable Foundation, which has been
mediating
in the hostage negotiations, said it was " very happy"
over
yesterday's release.
"We are going to continue our mediation for the release
of the
other hostages," said the spokesman for the association
which
is chaired by one of the sons of Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam.
"We hope to succeed soon," said the spokesman.
The foundation describes itself as a nongovernmental
group
devoted to helping Muslims throughout the world.
While the foundation seems to be most active in the
Philippines,
all chief director Mohammed Saleh will say is that it
"has spent a
lot of money" there.
South Africa thanks RP
South African President Thabo Mbeki commended the
Philippines and Libya and welcomed the release of
Strydom and
the other captives, and hoped the remaining hostages
would be
freed soon.
"The presidency also commends the Libyan and the
Philippine
governments for their ongoing efforts," Mbeki's
spokesman
Nazeem Mahatey said in a statement.
Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for South Africa's department
of
foreign affairs, said the release was "a step in the
right direction
and we hope this has laid the foundations for the
release of the
remaining hostages in due course." With reports from
Armand
Nocum; Lino Gilbert Parone; Inquirer wires
August
28, 2000
12 dead in
another
massacre
'A good day
for freedom'
Militant
teachers give
students
reality check
Senate takes
step to stop
cronyism in
government
3 NPAs
killed
in Cavite
clash
More garbage
mountains
rise in
Quezon City
Chinatown
'camera'
murder
still a puzzle
More Pinoys
'fake' their way
to land jobs
abroad, says BI
Slain
priest's ordeal
recounted
in booklet
Pinoy's
karaoke
claim
challenged
Villagers,
not gov't men,
behind
P730-M shabu bust
Libyan
'humanitarian'
claims
disputed
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