ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, (AFP)-The Philippines’ chief hostage negotiator resigned Monday in a dispute with local officials, putting in jeopardy the release of 33 hostages held by Muslim rebels in the southern province of Basilan.
House of Representatives member Gerry Salapuddin said he had had enough of meddling by local politicians led by provincial Governor Wahab Akbar.
Local Red Cross head Alan Cajucom, who was acting as a coordinator between the rebels and negotiators, also quit, saying the interference of local officials had compromised the possible safe release of hostages.
Akbar has been accused of sending emissaries to the Muslim rebel Abu Sayyaf group telling it to release the hostages into his custody, despite the national government last week setting up a "crisis management committee" headed by Salapuddin.
"I am quitting and if other groups want to negotiate it is up to them," Salapuddin said.
Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who last week stormed a school in Basilan after a failed raid on an army post, said they would now only negotiate with a "representative from the Vatican" and with local action movie star Robin Padilla.
The guerrillas seized 53 students, teachers and a Catholic priest and demanded 200 sacks of rice, canned goods and medicine in exchange for their release. Twenty captives were later freed to government negotiators.
An armed vigilante group in Basilan on Friday snatched 11 relatives of the Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, including his wife and one-year-old daughter, to pressure him into releasing all the hostages.
Abdul Midjal, an Akbar bodyguard, has claimed responsibility for the retaliatory abduction.
Rebel spokesman Abu Ahmad speaking on radio DZMM, refused to divulge the reason for the school attack, stressing they would only relay their message through a Vatican representative or Padilla, an ex-convict who converted to Islam while in jail.
Asked what would happen if no Vatican representative arrived, Ahmad said: "The negotiations will be cut. No more negotiations."
The abduction of Janjalani's relatives would not give government negotiators any "bargaining power," he said.
"It's up to them if they don't want to release them. We don't want people to think that we would soften up if they take our relatives. We are ready to part with our families."
At the same time, he warned Manila "not to underestimate" the Abu Sayyaf fighters, following earlier threats by President Joseph Estrada that he would crush the Muslim rebellion.
The hostages were being treated well, but if a military offensive is launched, they would be put in a "disadvantaged position," Ahmad stressed.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of two groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the south and operates mostly out of Basilan's hinterlands and nearby islands.
