PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 1, 2013) – Freed Abu Sayyaf hostage, Australian adventurer Warren Rodwell, is unlikely to pursue criminal charges against his kidnappers despite earlier statement by Philippine authorities.
Rodwell, 54, went to the Department of Justice on Monday to sign his affidavit of abduction, but State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said the Sydney man has no plans of filing charges against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, according to a report by television giant GMA News.
“The purpose of the affidavit is for the processing of the investigation of the case…so far, Rodwell has not decided whether to press charges (against his abductors), but (his sworn) statement can be used by the PNP to pursue a complaint,” GMA quoted Reyes as saying.
PNP refers to the Philippine National Police.
Rodwell has evaded the Philippine press and would not talk to journalists who covered his arrival at the Department of Justice.
Rodwell – kidnapped on December 2011 from his seaside house in Ipil town in Zamboanga del Sur province by gunmen who posed as policemen – was freed on March 2 after his Filipino wife, Miraflor Gutang paid P4 million ransom to the Abu Sayyaf, which originally demanded $2 million.
Gutang claimed that she herself raised the money by selling off their house and vehicle and water refilling business in Zamboanga del Sur province, but her story raised more doubts because she had previously accused Rodwell of physical abuse and abandoned him days before he was kidnapped in their seaside house in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
Rodwell married the Filipino woman in June 2011 after they met on the internet. Gutang’s fantastic claim of herself raising the ransom was far from her previous statement following Rodwell’s kidnapping in which she said in a radio interview that “whoever had kidnapped my husband, he is not rich. Return him to us and please don’t hurt him. My husband is ill.”
General Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, said the ransom received by the Abu Sayyaf would further threaten peace and security in the Muslim province, saying the terrorist group would likely to use the money to purchase illegal weapons and fund kidnappings and terrorism in Basilan and probably other parts of Mindanao.
“We are worried about this situation now because the Abu Sayyaf may use the ransom to fund terror activities and kidnappings and endangering civilian lives,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Gutang now lives with her parents – her father works as a farmer and mother, a housewife – in a modest house in Naga town. Both parents claimed Gutang was a battered wife. She even filed police reports several times claiming she was allegedly assaulted by Rodwell, and police said that she was also planning to file charges against her husband with the Australian embassy in Manila.
Rodwell’s sister Denise and his brother Wayne, who flew to Manila from Australia to be reunited with the freed adventurer, did not meet with Gutang.
President Benigno Aquino has ordered an investigation into the payment of ransom to the terrorist group, saying, he has not seen any reports on the Rodwell case. “I haven’t seen a report from the concerned (authorities, the) PNP anti-kidnapping group and others,” he said.
Aquino said the government has a strict no-ransom policy. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said.
There were suspicion the ransom money either came from Rodwell’s family in Australia or from the Australian government and only used Gutang as a cover to justify the payment to the terrorist group, blamed for many kidnappings and bombings in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner
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