OWN CORRESPONDENT, Jolo | Sunday 3.30pm.
FEARS that a dozen foreign journalists have been captured by Muslem rebels on a Philippine island subsided on Sunday after the bulk of them returned to base in the regional capital.
Eleven out of the original 13 reported missing were back in Jolo town on Sunday, and officials said the two still unaccounted for are not necessarily abducted.
After a day of conflicting reports, President Joseph Estrada’s office in Manila put out a statement earlier on Sunday saying 13 journalists, including 12 foreigners, had gone missing on Saturday on Jolo island where Abu Sayyaf militants are holding 21 hostages from various countries. Two South Africans are amongst the hostages.
The journalists are among many who converged on the island after the hostages were seized from a Malaysian resort island on April 23.
Meanwhile negotiators said the rebels have made “reasonable” political demands that will be communicated to Estrada.
Farukh Hussain, one of four negotiators who met Abu Sayyaf guerrillas on Saturday at their mountain lair, said the talks were “very relaxed” and the militants’ demands “quite reasonable”.
The negotiators had hoped that the rebels would release an ailing German woman from among the hostages on Saturday, but they did not. Azzarouq said German housewife Renate Wallert, 57, who has high blood pressure, is “very much improved”.
An aide to the negotiating team said the rebels are seeking a ban on fishing by foreigners in the southern Mindanao region, development projects and recognition of a 24-year-old autonomy agreement.
The 1976 Tripoli agreement between the government and rebels provided for a plebiscite and the possible eventual grouping of 13 provinces and several cities within an autonomous region. Citizens voted down autonomy in the plebiscite, and only four provinces have been granted autonomy. — AFP