5 captured soldiers face NPA rebel court PAGE 2
Introducing Zamboanga Peninsula's Own Community Newspaper
One of most wanted rebels captured
Manila told to prepare for OFWs reverse migration phenomenon
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RP strengthens anti-corruption campaign
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Human rights group calls on US Congress to reevaluate surveillance laws
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June 24-30, 2013
ABU AUSSIE RANSOM COMES FROM SIBLINGS, NOT PINAY WIFE
F
reed A bu S ayyaf hostage ustr alian adv enAbu Sayyaf hostage,, A Austr ustralian advener Warr en R odw ell, has finally admitted turer arren Rodw odwell, tur that his siblings rraised aised the rransom ansom paid for his safe rrelease elease y his F ilielease,, denying claims b by Filipino oper ties in the P hilproper operties Philpino wife that she sold off their pr ippines to pay off the rrebel ebel gr oup group oup.. His Filipina wife, ties in Zamboanga Sibugay Miraflor Gutang, 29, has province in Mindanao and insisted that she paid the sought help from relatives ransom that led to to raise $94,000 to pay the Rodwell’s release in Abu Sayyaf. Her brother helped March this year. Gutang’s fantastic her deliver the money in claim of herself raising Zamboanga City following the ransom was far from a series of negotiations her previous statement headed by Basilan provinfollowing Rodwell’s kid- cial deputy governor Al napping in which she Rasheed Sakalahul. Rodwell, a former solsaid in a radio interview that “whoever had kid- dier in the Australian napped my husband, he army, was kidnapped by is not rich. Return him to gunmen who posed as pous and please don’t hurt licemen on December 2011 from his seaside him. My husband is ill.” Rodwell, who re- house in Ipil town and turned to Australia fol- freed on March 2. The Abu Sayyaf origilowing his release, told news.com.au that the nally demanded $2 milransom paid to the al- lion. Gutang - who previQaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group was solely raised by ously complained to the Denise Capello and police that she was beaten up by Rodwell - abanWayne Rodwell. Gutang, daughter of a doned her husband days farming couple, had before he was kidnapped. Rodwell, a prolific claimed selling their house and other proper- world traveller, married
Warren Rodwell during his captivity. Gutang in June 2011 in Ipil town after the two met through the Internet and bought a house in October of the same year in Pangi village. Inspector Edwin Verzon, then the police chief of Zamboanga Sibugay’s Ipil town, con-
A man points to Warren Rodwell’s house in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
ARMM
Southern Mindanao
Davao
firmed this and said the woman had filed two abuse complaints against Rodwell since the marriage. The woman’s family also said that Rodwell maltreated his wife. “She filed two complaints with us and she was also planning to bring it to the attention of the Australian embassy in Manila, but we don't know if she pursued it,” Verzon said. Days after Rodwell was kidnapped, Gutang had told the media that they cannot afford to pay any ransom because they are poor. Her 66-year old father, Loreto, works in the farm and her mother, Salvadora, 61, stays only at home in their ancestral house in Naga town. Rodwell’s house in Ipil town has not been sold contrary to Gutang’s claim, but was rented by a Filipino family for P2,000 a month, although her brother is said to be transferring to the house. Tenant Jeffrey Maba-
Manila
go, whose wife works in Singapore, said Gutang told him that her brother is moving in the house. “That’s what she told us. Her brother is moving in and that she will refund us our deposits,” he said, adding Rodwell still owned the house. “As far as I know this house still belongs to them and was never sold.” Rodwell’s room is still locked and the door reinforced with iron grills, just as how it was when the gunmen barged into the house and dragged the foreigner to the bushes outside that leads to sea 15 months ago. The barbed wires that once surrounded the tworoom house were gone, but a torn yellow strip of tape used by the police to secure the compound is still hanging by the wooden gate, a harrowing reminder of the past. President Benigno Aquino has previously ordered an investigation into the payment of ran-
som to the rebel group, saying, he has not seen any reports on the Rodwell case. “I haven’t seen a report from the concerned (authorities, the) PNP anti-kidnapping group and others,” he said. Aquino said the government has a strict noransom policy. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said. And nothing was heard from the authorities about the ransom payment until the news broke out in Australia over the weekend. Rodwell said he also filed a divorce and had told Gutang that she can keep his house in Ipil. Gutang, who has a child in a previous relationship, has not seen Rodwell since his release. Gutang has evaded journalists in Zamboanga and now lives with her parents in the province. She could be facing perjury charges. (Mindanao Examiner)
Zamboanga Peninsula