The Mindanao PeaceWeavers (MPW), the broadest coalition of peace networks in Mindanao composed of eight convening networks, including the AGONG Network, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, Mindanao Peace Advocates Conference, Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement, Peace Advocates Zamboanga, Mindanao Solidarity Network, the Bangsamoro Women's Solidarity Forum and the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, is deeply saddened with the abduction of one of our conveners, Prof. Octavio Dinampo, who was snatched along with veteran TV broadcaster Ces Orena-Drilon and her two cameramen, Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, in Kulasi, Maimbung, Sulu last Monday.
The Mindanao PeaceWeavers (MPW), the broadest coalition of peace networks in Mindanao composed of eight convening networks, including the AGONG Network, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, Mindanao Peace Advocates Conference, Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement, Peace Advocates Zamboanga, Mindanao Solidarity Network, the Bangsamoro Women's Solidarity Forum and the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, is deeply saddened with the abduction of one of our conveners, Prof. Octavio Dinampo, who was snatched along with veteran TV broadcaster Ces Orena-Drilon and her two cameramen, Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, in Kulasi, Maimbung, Sulu last Monday.
As we join fellow peace advocates in calling on their abductors to immediately free them unconditionally, we also request everyone to help us pray and work for the safety of Prof. Octa and his fellow kidnap victims.
We take this opportunity to express our aversion over an insinuation by the Philippine National Police that Prof. Octa could be "part of the kidnappers."
Media reports attributed this statement to Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, police regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao: "As of now, we cannot determine his (Dinampo) role, if he is a part of the kidnappers or he was also a victim."
This statement of the highest ranking police officer in the autonomous region does not only undermine the already precarious security of Prof. Octa but also casts aspersion on the entire peace movement in Mindanao. We condemn this in no uncertain terms.
Prof. Octa is the current Chair of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), a network member of the MPW. He has always been in the forefront of peace activities in Jolo and has lent his prestige and quiet, tireless work to the entire peacebuilding movement in Mindanao. As an MPW co-convener, he participated in a recent regional conference on the impact of Counter Terrorism Measures on the work of civil society held in Davao City. He may now be an ironic victim of those measures.
We abhor this apparent allusion that Prof. Octa is "part of the kidnappers"—a not-so-veiled hint that we believe is deliberately being spread with the persistent unconfirmed reports attempting to impress upon the public that the co-convener of MPW had already been freed by their abductors while the journalists he helped remain in the hands of their captors.
Since Tuesday afternoon, our partners in Jolo were reportedly told by men identified with the intelligence community that Prof. Octa had already been released without Drilon and her crew.
Some media reports also identified Drilon, Encarnacion and Valderama as the only victims of the kidnapping. We are very concerned that some of our friends in media have fallen for the line that Drilon, Encarnacion and Valderama are the only ones kidnapped, reinforcing the PNP's insinuation that Prof. Octa could be "part of the kidnappers."
Prof. Octa was reported by his wife as missing when he failed to come home Monday night. He couldn't be declared missing in his own home province, unless he is being held against his will. He is clearly a kidnap-victim.
MPW vouches for Prof. Octa and stands by him unrelentingly. We call on all concerned to join our efforts in getting Prof Octa and all his fellow victims released safely the soonest possible time.
MPW Secretariat
The Mindanao Peaceweavers is steered by a joint secretariat composed by the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), as the lead secretariat, with the Technical Assistance Center for the Development of Rural and Upland (TACDRUP), Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and SALIGAN-Mindanao.
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