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Saturday, June 14, 2008
Sulu abduction won't deter Armm polls: PPCRV
MANILA -- The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said Friday that the abduction of TV journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon would not deter the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) elections.
PPCRV national chairperson Henrietta de Villa said the abduction of Drilon and her crew only encouraged them to promote a democratic and meaningful election in the region on August 11.
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"Their abduction won't deter us. We will still continue to volunteer in the Armm," she said.
De Villa said her group is organizing a summit workshop to be held at the Pope Pius XII in Paco, Manila from June 21 to 23. The workshop is intended for the 16 Muslim civil society organizations and different Ulama's in the Armm to prepare them for the automated elections.
PPCRV, the Church-based poll watchdog, has been the citizens' arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) during elections.
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Last month, the group conducted a seminar for their members to familiarize them with the two new technologies -- the Direct Recorder Electronic and the Optical Mark Reader -- that will be utilized in the Armm polls.
Armm is composed of six provinces namely: Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. It has 1.7 million registered voters.
De Villa meantime appealed to the Abu Sayyaf holding the ABS-CBN team and Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo not to add more tension to the people's fear in the scheduled polls.
"Don't add anymore to the people's fears. Instead help uplift the image of Muslims because a real Muslim does not kill, neither is he violent also," de Villa said.
It was reported Friday that one of Drilon's companions, ABS-CBN cameraman Angelo Valderama, was freed in the southern Philippines last Thursday night in Indanan town in Sulu.
Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji said Valderama was released around 9:30 p.m. in Talipao township, which is near the boundary of Indanan.
Recent reports said no ransom was given for the release of Valderama, but Isnaji said the captors of the news team have raised the P10-million ransom to P20 million.
Isnaji said that he and the other negotiators are doing their best to bring down the ransom and they are confident that the remaining hostages will be released soon.
Valderama, Drilon, and another cameraman were reportedly snatched last Sunday in Maimbung town in Sulu by the Abu Sayyaf bandits under the group of Albader Parad and Gafur Jumdail.
The news team arrived in Jolo, Sulu last Saturday at the invitation of Dinampo to cover "a special event". Dinampo picked them up Sunday from a university hostel, where the news team stayed, but armed men intercepted them as their vehicle passed through the village of Kulasi.
Dinampo was also held by the kidnappers.
Asked if Dinampo knows the plan to kidnap Drilon and her crew, Isnaji said: "Dinampo was totally unaware of the captors' plan."
ABS-CBN meantime condemned the kidnapping and said it will abide by its policy not to pay ransom because it may embolden kidnap-for-ransom groups to abduct other journalists. (FP/VR/Sunnex/With AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (June 14, 2008 issue)
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