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Philippine TV Reporting Team Kidnapped by NTDTV
ANCHOR:One of the Philippines' top TV reporters and her two assistants have been kidnapped. ABS-CBN network said on Wednesday that the team went missing on an island that is a hot spot of Islamic radicals linked to the al Qaeda.STORY:The country's largest television network said that broadcast journalistCes Drilon and cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama have been kidnapped for ransom on Jolo island.The crew has been missing since Sunday.ABS-CBN News announced that it is doing everything it can to help the families of its kidnapped journalists, but it will abide by its policy not to pay ransom.The network feels that paying ransom would embolden kidnap for ransom groups to abduct other journalists, thus putting more lives at risk.ABS-CBN did not say who it believed was responsible for the abduction.But the island of Jolo is used as a base by the Abu Sayyaf radicals, who are notorious for kidnapping for ransom.[Rowena Paraan, National Union of Journalists in the Philippines]:"Whatever the abductors stand for, whatever their goals are, there's absolutely no justification for seizing journalists whose sole concern is to seek out the truth and present this as accurately as possible. To them we say: please release Ces, Jimmy, Angelo, and Mr. Dinampo. Seizing them cannot in any way serve your ends and can only bring down condemnation on your heads."In 2000, the Abu Sayyaf held about 20 people, mostly Western touristsand Malaysian resort workers from nearby Sipadan island, for about threemonths and freed them after more than $10 million U.S. dollars was paid fortheir release.
