Roundup: Kidnapping of foreigners resurfaces in southern Philippines

After a lull of almost one year, the kidnapping of foreigners resurfaced in the southern Philippines with the abduction Monday of two Canadians, a Norwegian, and a Filipino woman from the Holiday Ocean View Samal Resort in Samal, Davao Oriental.

The police identified the Canadians as John Ridsdel, 68, and Robert Hall, 50, while the Norwegian was Kjartan Sikkengstad, 56, operations manager of the resort. The 40-year-old Filipina, identified as Maritess Flor, is Hall's live-in partner.

Initial police report showed that around 20 heavily-armed men swooped down at the resort Monday night in a well-coordinated abduction operation.

Three days after the kidnapping, no group has claimed responsibility nor was there any ransom demand.

But the police initially suspected the Abu Sayyaf, a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang in the Muslim provinces of Sulu and Basilan, as behind Monday's kidnapping.

The Abu Sayyaf has links with al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah, the Indonesian terrorist group.

On Oct. 17 last year, the Abu Sayyaf released its two German hostages, Stefan Vikgtor Okonek, 71 and Henrike Dielen, 55 after a ransom was paid although the Philippine government and the German embassy in Manila have denied paying any money.

But Abu Sayyaf confirmed in a radio interview that they received a 250 million pesos (5.4 million U.S. dollars) ransom in exchange for the release of the two German hostages. The bandit group had threatened to behead the German hostages unless ransom money was paid.

The two German hostages were abducted and held for six months in the bandit group's jungle lair in Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province in the southernmost tip of the Philippine archipelago.

In 2001, the Abu Sayyaf also tried but failed to kidnap foreign tourists in Samal Island's Pearl Farm resort. Three security men died fighting the attackers.

On Monday's kidnapping, the police said that the gunmen seized their captives from aboard yachts and reportedly brought them towards the town of Pantukan in nearby province of Compostela Valley.

On Wednesday, the police said that the kidnappers might have escaped from the police dragnet and brought their victims to the mountains of Davao Oriental.

The police said that the gunmen also tried to seize a Japanese couple from one of the yachts docked at the resort but they resisted and escaped by jumping off the boat.

Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, said that there has been no report of the gunmen and their captives heading to the suspected lairs of the Abu Sayyaf in the islands of Basilan and Sulu.

There was also a note reportedly left at the gate near the docking area of the yacht club which read "Katarungan sa aming Commanderby NPA," (Justice for our commander), apparently referring to the New People's Army rebels, active in eastern and northern Mindanao.

However, authorities have yet to ascertain if the NPA was behind the kidnapping.

The government has created an interagency task force, composed of the police, the military and the Davao City government to hunt down the kidnappers.

Police intelligence reports said that the Abu Sayyaf is currently holding nine hostages, including four foreigners, in the jungles of Sulu in Mindanao's southwest.

In Malacanang, the seat of the Philippine government, President Benigno Aquino III was reported to be personally monitoring the situation.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the Philippine National Police (PNP) was doing "what was appropriate and following protocol, including coordination with the embassies concerned and their relatives."

The Canadian and Norwegian embassies in Manila have declined to give any statement although wire reports said that a Norwegian foreign ministry spokeswoman in Oslo, Lothe Salvesen, has said that the Norwegian government was investigating the report.

Samal Island, about 800 kilometers southeast of Manila, is a short boat ride from the southern commercial center of Davao City in the island of Mindanao where there are several Muslim armed groups fighting the Manila government.

Samal is a high-end resort famous for its white sand beaches and diving spots. Endi