Last Sunday, July 13, ABS-CBN aired a TV special titled Kidnap,
which showed interviews of members of the media who were recently taken hostage by
the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
ABS-CBN senior correspondent Ces Drilon, her two cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and Prof. Octavio Dinampo of Mindanao State University were supposed to interview the one-armed Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron in Sulu last June 8.
Radulan, who carries a $200,000 bounty from the U.S. government, is said to be involved in the 2004 bombing in Jolo that killed 11 Filipino civilians and wounded more than 200 persons. Also known as Commander Putol because of his amputated right arm, he is also considered one of the masterminds of the April 2000 kidnapping of 21 foreign tourists in the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan.
Before Ces left Manila to talk with the notorious leader, she dropped by the office of Maria Ressa, head of the News and Current Affairs, to discuss the said interview. Maria Ressa warned Ces that the Abu Sayyaf haven't been in the news lately and there is a possibility that they might be kidnapped.
Chari Villa, head of the news gathering group of ABS-CBN, specifically instructed Ces to just write down the questions for Radulan and give a small camera to Prof. Dinampo instead of interviewing him in person.
According to Ces, she had already written down the questions to be given but when Prof. Dinampo arrived the next day to pick them up, she suddenly made up her mind to meet with Radulan personally. She and her companions were made to walk for hours until they came to the camp of the Abu Sayyaf. Throughout this time, Jimmy secretly took videos of the men who kidnapped them and these were aired on the TV special Kidnap.
Upon seeing Ces, the ASG leader told her: "Ito lang ang sasabihin ko sa ‘yo, kidnap-for-ransom ito." The broadcast journalist was devastated and she recalled feeling at that time, "Nahulog talaga ang puso ko."
This was the beginning of their ten-day ordeal at the hands of the terrorist group operating in the southern Philippines. Ces was even told at one time: "Mag-make up ka ng mabuti para pag in-LBC [courier service] namin ang ulo mo, maganda."
Ces described the maltreatment that she received at the hands of the ASG: "Nakatali ka, susuntukin ka ng baril, sasampalin ka. Ang sabi ko nga kay Jimmy, ‘Wala pang gumagawa ng ganito sa akin.'"
When asked to describe the living conditions during her stay, she responded by saying, "It was horrible. You had to sleep on the ground, natutulog kami sa tolda, sa hammock, or sa lupa na nilagyan ng sako."
The armed men also told Jimmy and Angelo that one of them should take videos while the other's head is being chopped off. The ASG demanded that the ransom money should be given to them immediately or else they would chop off the head of Jimmy.
The cameraman recalls: "Sabi nila, ‘Magdasal ka na sa Diyos mo. Itong itak na ito, dalawa na ang napugutan.'" Jimmy asked them for mercy but the kidnappers told him coldly, "Hindi kami marunong maawa dito."
A phone call to Indanan mayor Alvarez Isnaji stalled the beheading and by June 12, Angelo was released while Ces, Jimmy, and Prof. Dimampo were set free on June 17.
In his interview, Jimmy says that he had no regrets about joining the reporter in this dangerous mission. "Nagusap-usap na kami na...aakyat kami dun, mag-iinterbyu kami. Pumayag naman ako dun na, sige, kasama ako diyan basta ikaw [Ces] kasama ko...The night before kami umakyat, the night before Saturday night nag-usap na kami. Kaya hindi kami nagsisihan dun. Wala kaming pagsisisi."
For her part, Ces is grateful for the care and concern shown by her crewmembers. "Inalagaan nila ako grabe. You could feel their love and respect for me and I wouldn't have been able to go through that ordeal if not for them."
She even became teary-eyed when she recalled her face-to-face encounter with the wives of Jimmy and Angelo. "I remember asking their wives, "Galit ba kayo sa akin? Hindi sila galit sa akin and they have every right to be."
SUSPENSION. Management has recently sanctioned Ces Drilon with a three-month suspension from her duties as anchor of the late evening newscast Bandila and from her duties as a senior correspondent. During the TV special, Maria Ressa said that this was because Ces defied the direct orders of her supervisors.
"Why not termination? Because she is Ces. She is a role model for our news team. It's three months suspension because one month is a vacation. Ces lives and breathes journalism. She learned a valuable lesson from this ordeal," explains the head of ABS-CBN's News and Current Affairs.
In response to this suspension, Ces wrote to her supervisors: "I respectfully accept the sanctions you deem proper in my disregard of your order. I cannot put into words how deeply I regret having put my team in danger...and having caused anxiety and stress to the whole organization."