October 22, 2009, GMA News, 7:47 PM, AFP: 2 abducted DENR workers freed in Butuan

 October 22, 2009, GMA News, 7:47 PM, AFP: 2 abducted DENR workers freed in Butuan

Two of the seven abducted employees of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in northern Mindanao were released less than two days after they were abducted, a military official announced on Thursday.

Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col Romeo Brawner Jr. said Emiliano Gatillo and Efren Sabuero were released at the boundary of Kolumbugan, Sibagat and Tagkiling villages in Butuan city at about 5 p.m. Thursday.

Gatilio and Sabuero are currently in the custody of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for a short debriefing, Brawner said.

Still in the hands of their still unidentified captors are Gabriel Arlan, Rito A. Espenido, Teofredo E. Pujadas, Rudy A. Clar and Eduardo E. Abogata. They were kidnapped in Barangay Anticala in Butuan City near the protected Taguibo Watershed Wednesday afternoon.

Brawner said the victims were believed to be abducted by a New People's Army (NPA) unit led by Manuel Anob alias Salem or Ding, allegedly a ranking official of the communist movement in northeastern Mindanao.

“The negotiators are optimistic that this will be resolved peacefully by Sunday," Brawner said.

Hours before the two DENR victims were freed, Brawner disclosed that their abductors contacted government authorities to air their demands.

Brawner stressed that the demands - among them the cancellation of the community based forest management agreement (CBFA) operating in Sibagat area and the operations of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement - were purely related to reforestation and have nothing to do with ransom payment.

The abduction of the DENR employees is the third incident of kidnapping in southern Philippines in a span of 10 days. Before this, Irish priest Michael Sinnott in Zamboanga del Sur and school principal Gabriel “Bong" Canizares in Sulu. - GMANews.TV