June 20, 2001, Inquirer News Service, I'm not a courier, conduit or negotiator, says Saño, by Juliet L. Javellana and Carlito Pablo,

June 20, 2001, Inquirer News Service, I'm not a courier, conduit or negotiator, says Saño, by Juliet L. Javellana and Carlito Pablo,

HIS NAME had surfaced several times in news reports as the courier of the ransom money paid to the Abu Sayyaf by relatives of the freed Dos Palmas hostages. 

For the first time yesterday, radio announcer Stef Saño spoke up to deny the persistent reports about him. 

"My only role is that I helped the families air their appeal to Abu Sabaya," Saño told the INQUIRER in a telephone interview. 

"Someone gave them my number," Saño said when asked how come the hostages’ relatives knew how to get in touch with him. 

A radio talent of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), Saño admitted he was in Zamboanga City "about two weeks ago." But only to help arrange with the RMN Zamboanga station manager Rey Bayoging the airing of an appeal by Patrick Jao, the father of former hostage Kimberly, and Benito Chua, father of Lalaine Chua who's still being held by the Abu Sayyaf. 

But then, Jao and Chua aired their separate appeals from Manila by telephone. 

Saño, a former associate of Sipadan hostage negotiator Robert Aventajado, also vehemently denied he asked for a "mobilization fund" of P1 million to P10 million from the victims’ families for his role as conduit. 

"I am not a conduit, I am not a negotiator. I had nothing to do whatsoever with the delivery of the alleged ransom money. (I am not lying) even if you give me a lie-detector test," Saño told the INQUIRER. 

His denials were supported by Teresa Ganzon, who was released ahead of her husband Francis, and Patrick Jao. 

Saño interviewed Teresa and Jao during his Manila radio program yesterday to air their collective denial that they had paid ransom. 

But the military practically admitted that the relatives may have indeed paid the Abu Sayyaf saying it cannot blame them. 

"We can only appeal to their sense of patriotism but we know deep inside them they're also pleading, ‘can you blame us’," AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said yesterday. 

Adan said the choice of whether or not to pay ransom for a loved one in grave danger "is a matter of individual and personal values." 

Adan stressed the military was in no position to either confirm or deny the reports as the country lacked a system that could track down the movements of huge sums of money. 

Adan also said the military was unaware of the alleged activities of Saño.

'Believe us'

Over Saño's radio program, Teresa begged the media and the public to believe them when they say they did not pay ransom. 

"I hope they will believe us. We have said that the release of my husband and Kimberly was a gesture of goodwill and even the President can prove that because she has the letter that Francis brought when he was released. And that was the only reason why they were released. I believe (the Abu Sayyaf) really want to have a peaceful solution to this crisis," she said in the interview in Saño’s program "Bantay OCW." 

Just as she did when she was still in captivity, Teresa used the interview to appeal to President Macapagal-Arroyo to open lines of communication with the Abu Sayyaf for the safety of the remaining hostages. 

To validate his role in the hostage situation as a mere conduit for the airing of the appeals of the hostages' relatives, Saño replayed the tape of Benito Chua, who was on the verge of tears, asking the Abu Sayyaf to be allowed to speak to his daughter. 

'My friend'

"He is my friend," he said of Jorge Baviera who had also been tagged as working with Saño to deliver money to the emissary of the Abu Sayyaf. 

For the release of Francis Ganzon and Kimberly Jao on Saturday, Saño and Baviera reportedly met Kimberly's father and representatives of the other relatives of the kidnapped victims and brought them to a hotel. 

There the money from the relatives was turned over to a lady emissary of the bandits, according to the INQUIRER report. 

Saño admitted he was at the Orchid Garden hotel because, he said, he stays there whenever he is in Zamboanga. 

Saño was also photographed at Villamor Air Base when Kimberly and Ganzon arrived from Zamboanga City on Saturday. He was also observed in a huddle with Ganzon's wife, Teresa. 

Saño claimed he was at Villamor to fetch Bayoging, who was on the plane dispatched by the President for the freed hostages. 

In Saño’s radio program, Teresa and Jao both said they met Saño for the first time at Villamor Air Base. 

Teresa said she and her husband didn’t want any media interviews but that Saño asked her to talk on his radio program to deny reports about the payoff. 

Alias

During the radio show, Teresa was slightly confused that the one talking to him was a Cesar Padilla, whom she knew to be Saño. It turned out that Padilla was Saño’s pseudonym. 

"You know Stef or Cesar, if that is true I will admit it. But how can that be when I just met you in Villamor. And even if you asked me (for money) I will probably ask you ‘For what?’," she said laughing. 

"That is not true. You and I know it’s not true. I hope the people will believe us because these charges are ruining our reputation. We have no amount like that to give away and I’m not sitting on that kind of money," she said in Filipino.

Jao also said he met Saño aka Padilla face to face only in Villamor Air Base on Saturday. 

"Actually I approached Stef so that I would know the condition of my daughter. But I didn’t know Stef," Jao said in Filipino. 

He said he "contacted" Saño to help him air his appeal to Sabaya. 
When Saño asked him about reports that he (Saño) asked for a mobilization fund, Jao said: "That's not true. I can hardly produce the ransom money. How can I do that?" 

Teresa lamented that reports in media about ransom paid by the families of hostages have been aggravating their lives. 

"We are begging the media, please believe us and stop these reports in newspapers and broadcast (networks) which are all baseless," she said. 

"We suffered (in captivity) and now that we have returned, we face a different atmosphere. We cannot return to our house, we’re not sure if our children are safe in school because of the kind of attention that they are giving to us," she added. 

Teresa said the current media reports were "very far" from what she learned as a journalism student. 

"I don’t know that this is the right way (of reporting news). What more does the public need to know about us and what happened? I hope that with this statement, they will give us space to restore normalcy to our lives," she said. 

Jao also appealed to media and the public to give his family peace. 
Teresa again urged the President to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the release of the remaining hostages. 

"And we are praying that even if the government has other options, it should open its lines of communication with the Abu Sayyaf so that there will be a peaceful solution to this crisis," she said. 

In the clear

To clear himself further, Saño pounced on an INQUIRER report on Wednesday stating that Sabaya dealt directly with the families. 

It had reported another version of the ransom payment of Reghis Romero: That he may have paid not P3 million as earlier alleged but P24 million. 

The money was allegedly split among a "top local official," the Abu Sayyaf, and a top-ranking military official in Mindanao. 

"It clearly shows that I have no part in it because they didn’t need a conduit. And it showed that no money went to any conduit. Never did I participate in any activity (concerning the negotiations)," he said. 

Adan took exception to the report that a military official received portions of Romero's ransom payment. 

"It is a fabricated lie and is insulting to our brave soldiers in Basilan, Jolo and elsewhere in Mindanao. We do not play with the lives of our men or gamble with them," he said. 

Adan added it was "enemy propaganda." He counseled that the "media should not allow itself to be used."