ABS-CBN: ‘We will Not Pay Ransom for Ces Drilon and our Two Cameramen’
June 12, 2008 by cd
ABS-CBN has confirmed reports on the abduction of ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs host Ces Drilon, cameramen Jimmy Encarncion and Angelo Valderama, and their guide, Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampong.
Ces Drilon and her companions went missing on Sunday, June 8, in Sulu after being confronted by an armed group in Kulasi, a town of Maimbung.
Rumors about an abduction were discussed as early as yesterday, June 10. ABS-CBN neither confirmed nor denied the rumors until today. What the network confirms, however, is that Ces and her cameramen are missing in Sulu. The statement does not mention abduction.
A statement sent by the Kapamilya Network to PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) earlier this afternoon, June 11, confirms that Ces and two cameramen were kidnapped for ransom. But ABS-CBN will not pay any ransom because it may push other kidnap-for-ransom groups to target journalists.
With the help of authorities in Mindanao, especially ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) police director Joel Goltiao, Ces and her companions may be freed through negotiations. In addition, Goltiao confirmed reports that negotiations had begun with the abductors of Drilon and her team. But Goltiao rebuffed news about the perpetrators demanding an astronomical amount of ransom money ranging from 227,000 to 454,000 U.S. dollars.
Though Goltiao said that they are enforcing a no-ransom policy, it can’t be helped to include such an option during negotiations. “Hindi maiwasan,” he said in a separate interview in a daily newspaper.
Police say that the abductors are members of the Abu Sayyaf Group, led by Albader Parad and Gapur Jundain.
Here’s the complete statement of ABS-CBN:
“ABS-CBN News journalists Ces Drilon, with her crew Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama have been kidnapped for ransom. ABS-CBN News is doing everything it can to help the families of its kidnapped journalists through this harrowing ordeal.
“However, ABS-CBN News will abide by its policy not to pay ransom because this would embolden kidnap for ransom groups to abduct other journalists, putting more lives at risk.
“We ask the nation for your prayers and request our colleagues in media to join ABS-CBN News in condemning this unconscionable attack against journalists.
“We thank everyone for the outpouring of support we have received in this most difficult time.”
Source: PEP
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
good abs-cbn! baka pagnagbayad kayo ng ransom…dumami pa ang kidnap-for-ransom ek ek….
idaan sa legal na paraan!
let’s pray for ces and her companions!
June 13th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
hahahaha…. dami namang alam ng ebs…. sabhin nyo lang wala kaung pang ransom pina ganda nyo pa….. kawawa naman sina ces drilon…. pinabayaan nila lopez saka ni chicharo santos….. hahahahah…..
June 14th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Napakakapal ng pagmumukha mo yuck ka talaga napakaunethical ng iyong bibig bagay na bagay ka maging kanguso… di mo alam ang logic palibhasa lahat gusto u idaan sa suhol lyk ginagawa ng gma suhol ng sardinas hay nakakalungkot me mga pilipinong kagaya mo alang malasakit sa kapwa mabuti pa magdasal ka na lang baka sumunod ka kidnapin ng abu sayaf…
June 16th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
i don’t understand why a news blackout is necessary. is it because drilon is an employee of one of the biggest companies in the philippines? is that how powerful the lopezes are? if so, then i am more sorry for our country than ever. they take command over everything.
to make myself explicit, this is a tragedy. kidnapping has always been a tragedy. and i feel for ces drilon and her crew. i feel for their anxious families.
but how are their lives more important than those priests, children and everybody else that are kidnapped here in the philippines? remember reverend bossi? wasn’t his case made VERY public in 2007, especially by abs-cbn???