Seventy four days have passed since three members of the International Committee of the Red Cross were kidnapped by bandit groups in the island of Sulu. Andreas Notter, Eugenio Vagni and Mary Jean Lacaba, went to the province to inspect a water and sanitation project, social services greatly needed by the people of Sulu.

The victims, whose only purpose in going to the island was to serve the people - are now, we can only surmise, suffering in the jungles, with no adequate food, shelter and medicines. And with the military offensives for the last weeks, the trauma of near death experiences and the fatigue of running, scampering for safety is beyond our imagination.

 But the next twenty-four hours is the most crucial, as the bandits threaten to take the life of one of the victims if their demand is not met within the timeline given.

We appeal to everyone – the entire nation, the government, the military, the local leaders, and most especially the people of Sulu, let us seek and attempt every possible peaceful solution to save the lives of the victims, and to regain their freedom.

We commend all efforts exerted by the local crisis management committee, and we ask the people of Sulu to continue and intensify their participation in solving this crisis. The ICRC is an independent organization serving our communities out of pure volunteerism. It is but proper that we, from the communities, reciprocate this goodwill by engaging significantly in this urgent situation.

We respect the move of the government forces and salute the courage of our soldiers who risk their lives to rescue the hostages. However, we are against an all-out military offensive for we believe that this will only endanger the lives not just of the victims but of other civilians as well.

We however, do not agree with the total pull-out of the military from the province of Sulu, based on the reality of the presence of different armed groups in the province, like in other provinces in the region. We regret, but cannot deny the truth that aside from bandit groups, there are warring factions in our provinces, because of clan or political conflicts. We fear that total absence of the military will result to anarchy and lawlessness. We however demand from the military to uphold Human Rights and to remain loyal to their mandate, and not to any political group or clan.

We reiterate our strongest condemnation of the kidnapping of the ICRC workers and call for their immediate and unconditional release. We call for a deeper, comprehensive and permanent solution to this crisis, with the significant participation of the people, and work towards lasting peace and development in Sulu and in Mindanao.

FREEDOM TO THE ICRC WORKERS!

FREEDOM TO ALL KIDNAPPED VICTIMS!