Kidnappers free Philippine TV crew after payments

PHILIPPINEs: A tearful and scarred by mosquito bites, a Philippine television presenter said Wednesday she was “betrayed” into the hands of Muslim militant kidnappers who threatened to behead her group.

Prominent broadcaster Cecilia “Ces” Drilon said she, two cameramen and a Muslim academic “came close to losing our lives” in the hands of Abu Sayyaf kidnappers on the southern island of Jolo.

“There was some betrayal involved and that is why we were kidnapped,” said the 46-year-old presenter, who declined to say who had turned on her and whose appearance without make-up and dressed in shabby clothes was a stark difference from the polished performer seen on television screens here.

Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and university professor Octavio Dinampo walked free from a forest hideout late Tuesday after nine days in captivity, while a second cameraman was released last week.

The four, who were forced to sleep on damp ground and said their typical meal was a shared instant cup of noodles, were abducted on June 8 on arrival in Jolo to interview an Abu Sayyaf leader.

Drilon admitted that “I disregarded some warnings” of her employer, ABS-CBN, the country’s largest broadcast network, when she went to Jolo, a known haunt of Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, and described herself as “naive.”

“I put the lives of my team in danger because of that,” Drilon said after the former captives were flown to Manila Wednesday after a military debriefing, her eyes puffy from apparently crying.

The mother of four, whose face was scarred and swollen from mosquito bites, said she had been slapped and her group tied up, and Encarnacion said he had been beaten with rifle butts.

“There were a lot of times when I thought I was going to die. There were many times when they were going to cut off my head,” Encarnacion said.

Government officials insisted that no ransom had been paid but a negotiator said he handed over 100,000 pesos (about 2,250 dollars) to the kidnappers for “board and lodging”.

Manila, Wednesday, AFP