Philippines maintains no-ransom policy for Abu Sayyaf hostage-takers

MANILA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Philippine authorities maintained on Thursday their policy of not paying ransom for the release of four hostages, including two policewomen, abducted by the Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines over the weekend.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque told a news conference that the government will not pay the five million pesos (around 96,627 U.S. dollars) that the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers are demanding in exchange for the release of the policewomen.

There are also unconfirmed reports that the Abu Sayyaf extremists are demanding 300,000 pesos (around 5,794 U.S. dollars) for the release of the two other hostages.

The military said the four were abducted shortly after noon on Sunday in Patikul, a remote town in the southernmost Sulu province. The four were snatched while aboard a tricycle and headed to Jolo town, the military said.

The military also discouraged the families of the hostages from paying ransom.

"We are discouraging them (from paying ransom)," Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, head of the military's joint task force tracking the extremists, said, adding that paying ransom to the Abu Sayyaf will result in more abductions in the province.

"It (paying ransom) will allow them to continue with their operations because they can buy new weapons, they can buy supplies because currently, they are running short of logistics," Sobejana said.

Sobejana said the military is "doing its best" to rescue the hostages. Already, Sobejana said three military battalions have been sent to Patikul to locate the victims.

Sobejana said the Abu Sayyaf extremists are holding a total of 14 hostages, including a Dutchman, three Indonesians and a Vietnamese.

Philippine authorities said the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) wants to establish an Islamic State in the Philippines, and ultimately, an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to crush the Abu Sayyaf militants notorious for criminal and terror activities in the southern Philippines, including bombings, murder and kidnap for ransom.