Sunday, June 15, 2008 Cabaero: Euphemism for ransom By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
THE snatching of television journalist Ces Drilon and her crew last week and the negotiations for their release brought back the use of a milder substitute for the word “ransom.”
“Board and lodging” were the costs cited by past kidnappers to demand payment from the kidnapped person’s family or organization in lieu of ransom.
In recent kidnap negotiations in the Philippines, the word “ransom” is avoided by negotiators in order not to frustrate talks for the victims’ release. The use of the euphemism reportedly places the captors in a “kinder’ light and does not counter government’s policy against paying ransom to kidnappers and to terrorists.
No matter how one looks at it, however, the cost for board and lodging is another term for ransom in exchange for the release of the victims. The “ransomer” is no handsomer with the use of a euphemism.
Drilon and her television crew were kidnapped Sunday night last week in Maimbung, Sulu. They were on their way to a special coverage when intercepted and taken by armed men.
In the course of negotiations for their freedom, parties have used “board and lodging fee” instead of the word “ransom.” It is a euphemism that is of some help for it may lead to the release of the victims but it is of no help to the government that is trying to adhere to its no-ransom policy and to a country that is seeking the restoration of peace.
Whatever the name used, any payment to the kidnappers means capitulation.
The release of Drilon’s cameraman Angelo Valderama last Thursday night to Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Ann Sahidula, reports said, was preceded by payment of P2 million as “board and lodging fee.” How this fee was computed is anybody’s guess, although other reports said the payment was only for something like P100,000 a day of stay with his captors. The amount of P100,000 is way beyond what one would ordinarily have to pay for a suite in a five-star hotel.
But government or the family of the victims could not be blamed for playing along with the use of euphemisms. Past victims have been released by their captors and returned to their families after payment of the fee. I pray it works the same way for Drilon and those still being held, namely, her other cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and their guide Prof. Octavio Dinampo of the Mindanao State University.
In this use of euphemisms, the picture tends to get clouded when the plain reality is that the country is the one that suffers from the inadequacy of security measures and peace efforts. There was a time when the kidnap-for-ransom situations stopped and government tried to convince us that efforts to address root problems of poverty and inequality in the south were being made. These efforts turned out to be not enough.
No matter what the euphemism, the word to correctly describe what is happening is---failure. Efforts to address root causes have failed and have been proven to be inadequate still.
