RELEASED OR ESCAPED?

The Army official and a politician in Sulu claimed four kidnapped victims were freed by their captors, but the victims themselves insisted they escaped.

All the four hostages engineers Romeo Rivera, Reynaldo Rubio and Larry Bautista and their hired driver Isidro Amarano Lapus agreed in unison that they escaped on Thursday night, October 19, 2006 from their lone guard who fell asleep shortly before 9am.

But if you listen to Sulu Governor Benjamin Loong and 104^th Army Brigade commander Brig. General Reynaldo Sealana, the four were released by their captors on Friday dawn, October 20, 2006.

It is also quite disturbing to note that all the hostages claimed they were treated well by their captors. They were fed, treated humanely despite being tied with thin yellow nylon rope and the captors are quite friendly according to Rubio. Four victims are left to the care of a lone guard.

While showing the mug shots of the two suspects, Cedo insisted that suspects are really brutal “they are members of the dreadful urban terrorist group of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu.”

Cedo was showing the photos of brothers Itting and Omar Sailani, the main suspects in the killing of photojournalist Geneboyd Lumawag, two years ago.

As the military focuses on the Sailani brothers as the main suspects or shall we say masterminded the abduction, the police official in the area including the governor believed that GEM-USAID contracted security guards, actually two of them (Adznar Ibnaihi and Bong Sakandal) are the suspects who held the victims at gunpoint last October 17, 2006.

If Lapus is really telling the truth, only three kidnappers not six took them at gunpoint. He said of the three, only two were armed.

With the election fever just around the corner, more manmade miracles are expected and sad to note, military officials are also riding the said wagon for the sake of promotion. (END)