MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday said there have been some “movements” on the government’s efforts to free safely Filipinos abducted in Libya.
A few days before he steps down from the country’s top diplomat post, Cayetano said negotiations are ongoing although he did not give further details.
He said there are around two to three people involved in the discussion, but due to the sensitivity of the issue, he refused to cite personalities, saying “any information could harm who is talking to who.”
“I cannot tell you exactly but in the last few days, there have been some movements in the negotiation and the people negotiating it are on top of it and these are all Cabinet level so let me stop there because the negotiation for those were kidnapped is sensitive,” he told reporters.
In July, a group of armed men abducted three Filipino engineers and a South Korean national from the construction site they are working at, located 500 kilometers from the capital.
While the Philippines is working on their release, Cayetano vowed to follow up government assistance to their families.
“I will follow that up not only for those who were kidnapped but also for Filipinos who cannot fly back home, this shouldn’t be a one-time assistance, we need to also check on their families’ needs,” he said. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA)
