T

he government is still trying to confirm recent reports that a militant group is threatening to execute Indonesian sailors who were taken hostage in the Philippines if the price on their heads is not paid.

“We have received information [about the ransom threat] and we are trying to confirm it with the families of the hostages,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir told a press briefing on Thursday.

Earlier on Tuesday, someone claiming to be part of the Al Habsyi Misaya group phoned Dian Megawati, the wife of one of the hostages, demanding the sailors’ employer pay the 250 million peso [US$5.3 million] price tag they put on their heads or else they would be killed off one by one.

The Philippines-based group threatened to kill four of the seven Indonesian crewmembers of tugboat Charles 001 who were abducted in June.

The ship owner and employer of the sailors, PT Rusianto Bersaudara, has been informed of the kidnappers’ demands, Dian said from her home in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Wednesday.

“They demanded the ransom be prepared and delivered to the Philippines. They only mentioned the four hostages with them, namely my husband [Ismail], Muhammad Sofyan, Muhammad Nasir and Robin Piter,” Dian said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Dian said she was contacted several times by the unknown perpetrators, who had failed to mention the names of the other three hostages.

Al Habsyi Misaya is an offshoot of the notorious Abu Sayyaf group, which is responsible for the numerous abductions that have taken place in the tri-border area between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Since March this year, Indonesian nationals repeatedly became targets of the group in four separate kidnapping incidents, with 10 remaining in captivity.

The three countries’ foreign ministers and army chiefs have met in Yogyakarta and Manila to discuss maritime security in the tri-border area, leading to an agreement to formulate standard operational procedures that will include establishing coordinated naval patrols and setting up a sea lane for ships to safely navigate.

Another trilateral meeting will be convened on Aug. 1 in Bali among defense ministers, with the hope that a standard operating procedure (SOP) could soon be drafted, concluded and implemented. The Bali meeting would replace a meeting in Kuala Lumpur that was cancelled.

Indonesia has also raised the issue on the regional level in the recently concluded ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and related events in Vientiane, Laos.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi held bilateral talks with her Philippine counterpart, Perfecto Yasay, reaffirming Indonesia’s readiness to help and comparing notes and information on the latest situation.

The ministry is taking steps to mitigate the situation, first by seeking confirmation and details about the alleged threat. “There are plans to bring the family to Jakarta for further questioning,” Arrmanatha said.

He said the government would use its contacts on the ground in the southern Philippines to find a safe way to release the hostages. “The hostages are sometimes banded together and other times separated. They are currently well and we hope they will continue to be safe.”

Earlier in May, 10 sailors were released after lengthy negotiations when the crew of the Indonesian-flagged Brahma 12 tugboat and the Anand 12 barge, carrying 7,000 tons of coal, were hijacked in late March en route from the Puting River in South Kalimantan to Batangas in the southern Philippines.