VOL. XXX NO. 133 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 SATURDAY : JUNE 25, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
UK VOTES OUT OF EU, CAMERON RESIGNS
B5
SEAMEN ABDUCTED 7 Indonesians taken as Filipina captive freed
Home is the hostage. Incoming peace process adviser Jesus Dureza escorts former Abu Sayyaf hostage Marites Flor after getting off a flight from Sulu within hours from her release from nine months of detention.
By F. Pearl A. Gajunera and John Paolo Bencito
SEVEN Indonesian sailors have been kidnapped at sea in Mindanao, the Indonesian government said Friday, the latest in a spree of abductions by armed gangs in the strife-torn region. News of the abductions came as the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang released Marites Flor, the Filipina girlfriend of Canadian hostage Robert Hall, who was beheaded earlier this month after the bandits’ ransom demands
were not met. The Indonesian crew were towing a coal barge in the Sulu sea on Monday when their tugboat was hijacked by armed groups, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.
Seven sailors were taken hostage in two separate attacks on the vessel around an hour apart, Marsudi added. The six other crew aboard the tugboat were left unharmed. “The government will do everything possible to free these hostages,” Marsudi told reporters. “The safety of these seven Indonesian citizens is our priority.” A spokesman for the foreign ministry said he could not confirm whether a ransom demand
COLLEAGUES SLAM COMELEC CHIEF By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan COMMISSION on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista on Friday shrugged off a memo from his fellow commissioners, who took him to task for “failed leadership” and the delay in release of payments to teachers who served as board of election inspectors during the May 9 polls. “This is old news. I have pre-
pared a response and met with several commissioners about this already,” he said in a text message. On Thursday, the other members of the Commission en banc issued a strongly worded memo to Bautista asking him to explain why there was a delay in the release of honoraria for the board of election inspectors and other poll workers. Bautista also shrugged off their assessment that there was
a failure of leadership in the poll body. “I find the phrase ‘failure of leadership’ ironic after the May 2016 elections, which most believe was the fastest, most organized and successful elections in Philippine history,” he said. Bautista added, “Was the holding of nationwide presidential debates after 24 years a manifestation of failure of leadership as well?” Next page
had been made, or if the Abu Sayyaf was responsible for the abductions. Earlier this year the group kidnapped four Malaysian seamen and 14 Indonesian sailors, holding them in their stronghold in Sulu. They were freed several months later but there was no information on whether a ransom was paid. A spokesman for the Philippine government said they were working to verify the report. If confirmed, it would be the
third kidnapping of Indonesian sailors this year. Defense officials from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed this week to consider coordinated steps including possible joint patrols to tackle a wave of seaborne crime in the Sulu and Celebes seas, which together form a key waterway among the three countries. Abu Sayyaf, a small band of bandits, is highly active in the region and specializes in kidnappings-for-ransom. Next page
CUSTOMS, PPA CLASH IN NORTH HARBOR
A2