ZAMBOANGA CITY - In a visit to to the city Tuesday, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno has assured that negotiations for the release of Eugenio Vagni are still being conducted.

Puno made the assurance despite a “lull” in the operations to rescue the Italian national from the bandit group in Sulu. Vagni is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff member who remains a captive of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group after two others the bandit group abducted were freed earlier.

Puno said that emissaries were sent by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to the Task Force ICRC, the government body tasked to address the kidnapping of ICRC staff members in Sulu.

Puno said however that that they sense an apprehension from the ASG after a recent bloody encounter with troops from the Philippine Marines. Puno said it could be quite difficult for the bandit group to pursue the negotiations because of the casualties they incurred in the recent encounter.

Puno meanwhile refused to divulge the location of Vagni since, he said, efforts are already being made for his release.

Vagni has been held captive for more than five months after being abducted by the bandit group last Jan. 15 along with fellow ICRC workers Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter. Lacaba and Notter have been freed on April 2 and April 18, respectively. While Vagni is still being held on Sulu island by the bandit group.

“This crisis has kept Eugenio's family, his friends and the ICRC under immense pressure over the past five months,” said Alain Aeschlimann, ICRC head of operations for East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific in comments recently published on the ICRC Web site.

“I hope that Eugenio will be free very soon. None of us will be able to rest until then,” he added.

Abducted teachers in MILF area

Puno, in the same interview, said the three kidnapped teachers from Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay province and their kidnappers are now in hiding in a camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Tungawan town in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Puno clarified however that the government is not implicating the MILF on the kidnapping of Jocelyn Inion, Jocelyn Enriquez and Noemi Mandi. He clarified that due to pressure created by police and military operations to rescue the abduction victims, the kidnappers have reportedly sought sanctuary in the area of the MILF.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, meanwhile said they will verify if the information of the teachers’ and their abductors’ whereabouts are true. Kabalu said they are more than willing to help free the hostages if the reports are verified. A senior International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official has expressed that the international humanitarian agency remains worried on the condition of one of their staff members who is still captive by the Abu Sayyaf bandit group in Sulu.