Title: Asiaweek.com | The Jolo Diary | 9/29/2000
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SEPTEMBER 29 , 2000 VOL. 26
NO. 38 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK
David G. Mclntyre/Black
Star.The western hostages waited, and waited, on Jolo.
The Jolo
DiaryA behind-the-scenes look at the hostage crisis raises disturbing
questionsPLUS• Who's Who: The casting of the hostage
dramaTime passes. S-l-o-w-l-y. The days grate and grind against each
other. The 21 Sipadan hostages on Jolo are getting along as best they can.
The many-headed hydra that is Abu Sayyaf bickers fitfully. The European
governments, not trusting the Philippines to extract their nationals
alive, have already turned to Libya. They have begged its envoys to
negotiate a way out. Libya, agreeing to use its former ambassador to the
Philippines, Abdul Rajab Azzarouq, has grabbed the chance to collect
international kudos. Manila resents the Europeans' high-handedness —
applying a double standard in dealing with terrorists when it suits them.
President Joseph Estrada appoints his closest adviser, Robert Aventajado,
to look after Philippine interests. Aventajado is presidential material
writ large. He wants control of the crisis. Libya still thinks it can
deliver. Friction. Tension.A complicating factor is hawks and
doves in the Philippine cabinet who differ on approach. The upshot: a
tangled tale of competing forces and agendas, bags of pesos that
supposedly don't exist, phone taps, changing demands, delays, confusion.
Now, Philippine senators want answers. Why did it take 139 days to free
all but one of the Sipadan hostages? Who paid the ransom money, and where
did it go? In the past four months Contributing Reporter Kristina Luz has
pursued her own investigation into the protracted and troublesome
negotiations for the hostages, in the process tapping mediators and
brokers on both Philippine and foreign sides to piece together an account
of what happened. While answers still remain elusive, what follows is a
behind-the-scenes chapter in a story that may never be fully told. Luz's
report follows:One moment they were having a leisurely Easter
Sunday dinner, the next there were 25 men with bazookas and high-powered
rifles. "There was all this screaming," recalls South African tourist
Monique Strydom. She and her South African husband, nine Malaysians, two
Filipinos, three Germans, two Finns, two French and a French-Lebanese were
herded into speedboats off the Malaysian i
