Philippine military expects kidnappers to free last ICRC hostage

MANILA, April 19 -- The military said on Sunday that Abu Sayyaf kidnappers now have no choice but to release Italian Eugeino Vagni, the last of three Red Cross workers abducted months ago in the southern Philippines.

Vagni, along with two other members of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was snatched by a group of armed Abu Sayyaf bandits on Jan. 15 after inspecting a water and sanitation project at a jail in Sulu Province.

On April 2, one of the ICRC members -- Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba -- was released by the kidnappers. And then on Saturday, Italian Swiss Andreas Notter was recovered by security forces in the province, leaving Vagni as the last ICRC member still in the captivity of the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Sulu.

Founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, the Abu Sayyaf group is on the United States' list of terrorist organizations and is notorious for kidnappings, bombings and even beheadings in the Southeast Asian country over the past decade.

"They (the kidnappers) should release him (Vagni) because they have no other options...I think that is their only option...They have no other option but to release (him)," said Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, a Sulu-based military spokesman on the ICRC hostage crisis.

The spokesman reiterated that the authorities will not give in to Abu Sayyaf' demands for the military to withdraw from the jungles where the bandits are surrounded.

"We are appealing to their sense of reason. Their demands will not be granted and they are deprived of (logistics) support...so they have no other option but to release (Vagni)," he said.

Arevalo said that government forces are "strategically located in areas where we know they (Abu Sayyaf bandits) are. They are within the four corners of the places where they want the military to pullout."

The spokesman said that the bargaining leverage of the bandit group has been further weakened as Notter went free from the jungles.

"They've been using them (hostages) in bargaining, but now there's another one less," he said.

When asked if the authorities are willing to let the Abu Sayyaf bandits to walk free in exchange for the release of Vagni, Arevalo said: "The crime has been committed so they have to answer for it."

"But the more prudent line for that is for them to release him, release Vagni, and it's up to them to talk to the crisis committee (tasked by the government to secure the freedom of the ICRC members)," he added.