Philippines Charges Mayor in Media Kidnap Probe

Ces Drilon, one of the Philippines` best-known journalists, and her crew who were held by members of the notorious Abu Sayyaf group.

Philippine police filed criminal charges on Thursday against a local mayor and his son for their role in the kidnapping of a television news crew and a professor by Islamic militants on a southern island, officials said.

Alvarez Isnaji, a mayor on the remote southern island of Jolo, had been one of the main negotiators in talks to release Ces Drilon, one of the Philippines' best-known journalists, and her crew who were held by members of the notorious Abu Sayyaf group for over a week.

His son Haider was also involved in the talks.

"Our evaluation of statements from the victims and several witnesses all point to the participation of the Isnajis in the kidnapping of Ces Drilon and her crew," national police chief Avelino Razon told a news conference in Manila.

Razon said the two remained in police custody because they were considered to be principal suspects in the kidnapping case. About a dozen Islamic militants who were involved in the actual abduction were also charged.

In a separate interview earlier, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno told a radio station the Isnaji and his won were arrested late on Wednesday when investigation showed they had criminal liability.

Razon and Puno said investigators had noted inconsistencies in the statements made by the mayor and his son.

Drilon and her crew were freed shortly before midnight on Tuesday. Her employer, ABS-CBN, the Philippines' biggest television network, had initially thanked Isnaji for his help in her release.

Drilon's captors, who threatened to decapitate them, had demanded a ransom of 15 million pesos ($338,000) to release them.

The police insisted no money was paid but officials said development aid was promised to Jolo, a desperately poor island used as a base by Islamic militants.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has about 350 members and a track record of decapitations, has made a successful business out of kidnap-for-ransom.

In 2000, the group held about 20 people, most of them Western tourists and Malaysian resort workers from nearby Sipadan island, for about three months. They freed them only after more than $10 million was paid for their release.

A year later, three Americans and more than a dozen Filipino tourists and resort workers were taken from the western island of Palawan. Two of the Americans were killed, including one who was beheaded, while most of the rest were freed for ransom.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, the bombing of a ferry near Manila Bay in 2004 that killed more than 100 people.