In an interview with Mike Enriquez of radio station DZBB, the mayor of Indanan town in Sulu, Alvarez Isnaji, says that the captors of T.V. anchor Ces Drilon, her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and MSU professor Octavio Dinampo have threatened to end negotiations and cut off all communication if their demands for ransom are not met by 12:00 noon tomorrow. Implicit is the threat to harm Ces Drilon and the other hostages.

Isnaji is the emissary of the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers in dealing with the government and other parties seeking the release of Drilon and company.

It’s become a game of one-upmanship and intimidation, as the military made its presence felt by firing off some mortar rounds and moving its troops, composed of Marines, closer
to where Ms. Drilon is believed to be held. The kidnappers now have to up their ante or risk being called on their threats by the government forces. Who’s going to blink first ? Read the rest of this entry »

Updates

That is the question.

ABS-CBN’s official position is that it is not paying any ransom for its news team, led by television reporter Ces Drilon, which was kidnapped in Sulu together with MSU professor and peace advocate Octavio Dinampo. The network said in a statement:

ABS-CBN News journalists Ces Drilon, 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.

However, Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), confirmed that negotiations had begun with the abductors, and that there is a “great possibility” that the journalists would be freed, but he “cannot give an exact date”. He added that although the official policy is not to pay the kidnappers, discussions on ransom can’t be helped (“hindi waiwasan”). Reports say the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers are asking for P10 million to P30 million. Read the rest of this entry »

Check updated entries:

Ces Drilon is a veteran broadcast journalist who has been at the center of many an unfolding news story, often under perilous circumstances. She was first on the scene during the failed putsch and siege of the Manila Peninsula in November of last year. No stranger to danger, she has done many features on Mindanao, and seemed particularly at home in the Sulu and Basilan areas, where she covered numerous newsworthy events for ABS-CBN.

She is now in the unenviable position of being in the news herself. Yesterday, rumors had been circulating that Ms. Drilon and two of her cameramen, Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderrama, were seized by Abu Sayyaf militants in the village of Kulasi in the town of Maimbung, Sulu. She was with Octavio Dinampo, a professor from the Mindanao State University, who was helping Ms. Drilon in her coverage. They were reportedly taken to the hinterlands of Indanan town. Read the rest of this entry »

Read also: Blackwater Worldwide and the Role of Mercenaries in 21st Century Armed Conflicts Part I

Like it or not, 21st century warfare, characterized by areas of “low-intensity conflict”, will be influenced by entities like Blackwater, which has given a corporate face to the previously shady world of mercenaries.

Inevitably, Blackwater found its way to the Philippines and has been quietly but very actively recruiting personnel from our underpaid and overworked (though generally resourceful and courageous) members of the armed forces. This caused a flap a few years back when its recruitment efforts were exposed by the media. Read the rest of this entry »

Outsourcing is one of the givens of the 21st century global economy. This includes armed security services. No one realizes this more than the George W. Bush. In waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration relies to a large extent on private guards . Or, more to the point, on mercenaries.

According to the New York Times, the United States is dependent on 30,000 or so private guards to plug the holes in its understaffed military forces.

Patrick Kennedy, the Undersecretary of State for management was quoted as saying:

We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq. If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.

The preeminent firm responsible for supplying today’s global mercenaries is Blackwater Worldwide, based in North Carolina. Gone are the days when soldiers of fortune were considered as pariahs, derisively called the “dogs of war”, a phrase popularized by the eponymous 1974 novel by Frederick Forsyth. Mercs have now gone mainstream. Read the rest of this entry »