Philippine troops will withdraw from a jungle area on the southern island of Jolo as demanded by Islamic militants who have threatened to behead one of three Red Cross hostages, an official said yesterday.
Philippine Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the withdrawal should be completed within 36 hours and should open a humanitarian corridor for the Abu Sayyaf to free one of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hostages.
“I think we are more than bending over backwards in order that the kidnappers will not feel threatened,” Puno told reporters in the southern city of Zamboanga.
He said the pull-out would begin later yesterday when Jolo Governor Abdusakur Tan returned to the island, where Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni were seized on Jan. 15.
Puno said the withdrawal would involve about 600 to 800 police, troops and pro-government militiamen who have cordoned off the jungle area where the hostages are believed to be held by the militants.
“We are also asking them to comply with their earlier promise as a sign of good faith,” Puno said.
Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad had earlier given the military until tomorrow to withdraw from the area or he would behead one of the hostages. However, he has said he would free one if his demand was met.
The decision to pull back the troops came shortly after a rare appeal by ICRC chief Jakob Kellenberger for the gunmen to unconditionally free the hostages.
Kellenberger said he was “very concerned” by the kidnappers’ threat to behead one of the three ICRC workers being held on the southern island of Jolo unless government troops stationed there pulled back by tomorrow.
He called for the ICRC aid workers unconditional release.
“I am asking for their safe, unconditional and immediate release,” Kellenberger said in a statement issued late on Friday in Manila and Geneva, where the ICRC is based. “It is impossible to understand what the kidnappers could possibly achieve by hurting them. Harming a humanitarian aid worker cannot be justified under any ideology or religious law.”
The ICRC rarely speaks out on political issues for fear of jeopardizing its neutrality.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
RSS