Saturday, June 21, 2008 Editorials: Ironic twist in the Ces Drilon story
THE most recent twist in the story on the abduction of an ABS-CBN news crew and a university professor is an irony: the captives are free while those previously free are in detention.
And if Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider did negotiate in good faith for the release of broadcaster Ces Drilon and her companions, the irony is painful.
Being accused of colluding with the kidnappers and being detained is a double whammy, the first one hitting their public image and the second their freedom.
The Philippine National Police (PNP), which is building up the case against the Isnajis and other alleged abductors, should thus be sure of the evidence they are holding.
Because if Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s is to be believed---that the Isnajis have a wide following in Sulu---there would be a big price to pay if the PNP erred.
Well-planned trap
If the Isnajis were really part of a conspiracy to commit a kidnap-for-ransom caper, then the abduction of Drilon and her companions was a well-planned trap.
Which is worse than the theory that the kidnapping was a spur of the moment act by a wayward faction of the Abu Sayyaf upon discovering the news crew was in Sulu.
There is a whale of a difference between Drilon, et al falling into a trap and them straying unprotected into a danger zone and becoming a target of opportunity.
The first one is more devious and therefore more insulting for the victims.
Ransom
A trap requires knowledge of the weakness of the target; in the case of the ABS-CBN news crew and surely other
journalists, it is the obsession with exclusive stories.
The bait for Drilon was the supposed interview with Abu Sayyaf leaders.
Which brings us to the main motivation for the abduction: money.
If the abduction was a well-laid trap, then the release of Drilon et al could not have been for altruistic reasons or because of fear of a police-military offensive.
Ransom, or okay “board and lodging” fee, must have been paid.
Tracking the movement of the money before, during and after the payoff may lead to the further unraveling of this case, and could make or unmake the case vs. the Isnajis.
