On his arrival, Bacalzo met with the local crisis management committee (CMC) at a makeshift office in a wooden house at Barangay La Purisima, about 3 kilometers from a forested hill where the hostages were being held since Friday.

Details of the meeting were not disclosed. Members of the committee declined to talk to reporters after negotiations with the kidnappers bogged down on Friday.

Mr. Aquino told Malacañang reporters in Manila that Bacalzo would “check the situation, not to take over, but rather to make sure that every item on the CMC (guidelines) is being implemented and followed.”

The President said he had been informed about the release of two hostages on Sunday and that the local committee was “on top of the situation.”

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., PNP spokesperson, told reporters in Manila that Bacalzo would “personally supervise” the local CMC “in negotiating for the release of the victims.”

But he said the hostage-taking remained a “local crisis,” pointing out that it did not involve foreigners and centered on a dispute over tribal land.

Six gunmen on Friday abducted 16 school officials and students returning from graduation ceremonies and demanded the release of Ondo Perez, a Manobo leader detained for taking hostage 79 people in 2009 in a land dispute with a rival clan.

12 remain captive

One hostage was freed to act as a courier earlier and on Sunday two other captives were released to bring food, the PNP said.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said the kidnappers released a 13-year-old boy—identified by local officials as Marvin Corvera—at around 6:30 p.m. Monday. “The child is in good condition,” Robredo told the Inquirer.

However, he said that the abductors refused to release a 10-year-old girl reportedly stricken with fever.

Robredo expressed optimism that the crisis would be resolved soon.

“We are exhausting all possible means to settle this peacefully and save the hostages,” he said in a mobile phone interview.

“The safety of the hostages is our primary concern so we will be very patient in dealing with the hostages,” he added.

2nd standoff

It was the second hostage standoff to confront the Aquino administration. A botched hostage rescue on Aug. 23 last year in Manila’s Rizal Park left eight Hong Kong tourists dead and earned the Aquino administration international ridicule for ineptitude. The hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza who was demanding reinstatement, also was killed.

Authorities Monday temporarily released Perez from the Agusan provincial jail to help in the negotiations. He talked to his brother Allan, leader of the abductors, but returned empty handed to La Purisima along with dejected CMC members.

The two hostages who were freed on Sunday to bring food—school superintendent Hipolito Lastimado and teacher Diosdado Cabantac—were not allowed to return to the kidnappers’ encampment.

Security people blocked reporters’ access to Lastimado and Cabantac.

In the Aug. 23 standoff in Manila, journalists were partly blamed for the bungled rescue.

Food for the hungry

Some 100 soldiers and policemen in full combat gear remained in this once sleepy village, where residents continue to go on with their normal lives despite the crisis.

Senior Supt. Nestor Fajura, Caraga police operations chief, said local authorities allowed Rolly Brital, father of one of the hostage-takers, Rey Joy Brital, to join the negotiations Monday.

Brital brought food and water to the kidnappers’ encampment after they said the victims were hungry, Fajura said.

“We are hungry,” one of the hostages, Narciso Oliveros, a district schools supervisor, said in a text message to a village official.

Conrado Perez, 67, father of Ondo and Allan, also brought food to the abductors Monday. “I just left the sack of food in one area and left,” he told reporters.

Fajura said that the elder Brital had facilitated the surrender of Ondo Perez in the December 2009 hostage standoff.

“Because he is educated, Manong Rolly was able to explain to them the pros and cons of their actions,” Fajura said. “We are hoping that he can explain to the hostage-takers the legal implications of their actions and for them to respect the natural course of the administration of justice.”

Politicians

Former Butuan Rep. Charito Plaza also joined the negotiations Monday. She suggested that Manobo tribal leaders be involved in the process.

“The root cause of the problem boils down to ancestral land feud and the exploitation by politicians and businessmen,” she said.

In Manila, Rep. Antonio Tino of Alliance of Concerned Teachers Monday denounced as a “cowardly act” the kidnapping at Prosperidad and urged the Aquino administration to go after powerful politicians behind bandit groups.

Christine Avendano & Cynthia Balana, Inquirer.net