Press Release
July 19, 2009

Statement of Sen. Pimentel on probe of
Sulu Vice Governor Lady Anne Sahidulla

If Vice Governor Sahidulla indeed helped in the release of Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni and gave her own funds of P50,000 as "goodwill" money to the Abu Sayyaf, there may be no basis to investigate her.

She should only be investigated if there is any evidence that she was in cahoots with the Abu Sayaff kidnappers in the abduction of Vagni. The fact that she had announced that she was helping in the negotiations with the kidnappers for the release of Vagni and that she had given the P50,000 would indicate to me that she was not hiding anything.

These premises would hold if the government indeed paid no ransom for the release of Vagni. Up to now, there is nothing clear about why and how Vagni was released from his captors.

If the vice governor is prosecuted for what she did in the Vagni case, who will help the government next time there is an abduction in Sulu or elsewhere in Muslim Mindanao?

My suggestion is that the authorities had better leave things alone insofar as the vice governor is concerned. What they should concentrate on is to pursue the bandits, arrest them, shoot it out with them if they resist, and restore law and order in the province.

For starters, the Supreme Court under the leadership of the Chief Justice, as well as the President, should conduct a drive to fill up the vacancies in the 18 municipal courts of Sulu so that at the first level of the judicial system, the people of Sulu can have a resort to justice for the redress of their grievances.

To attract qualified applicants for the municipal courts, I suggest that the pay of the judges there be doubled the amount being paid to their counterparts elsewhere in the country and that they be provided a security detail at no cost to them for their personal safety. If a law is needed, the Senate and the House of Representatives should be prepared to pass an emergency legislation to cover the contingency.

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