Million dollar-a-day-project. Greenlee briefs Arroyo on exploration project.
***
Free Ces, Jimmy, appeal
families Negotiator says no ransom paid
for companion
BY RAYMOND AFRICA
THE families of ABS-CBN anchor Ces Drilon and
her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion who are being held in a bandit
lair in Sulu yesterday appealed for their release.
The appeal was made following the release of
assistant cameraman Angelo Valderama Thursday night.
"We, the families of Ces Drilon and Jimmy
Encarnacion are happy and deeply relieved that Angelo (Valderama)
has been freed. We appeal to the kidnappers to also immediately
release Ces and Jimmy as an act of compassion and humanity," the
families said in a statement.
TWO Marines abducted in Basilan Wednesday
were released yesterday without any conditions, said Lt. Col.
Leonard Vincent Teodoro, commander of the 7th Marine Battalion
Landing Team.
Teodoro said Corporals Jessie Duatin and
Bernie Alcabasa were freed around 12:10 a.m. at Makalang village
in Al Barkah town through Hadja Raiza Masud, a sister of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front commander Malat Sulaiman alias
Long Masud.
Military officials on Thursday said Sulaiman
initially offered to exchange the two Marines for his nephew,
Salim Ali Masud, who was arrested by security forces last week
in Lamitan City for the ambush last July in Tipo-tipo town that
left 14 Marines dead, 10 of them beheaded.
EXXON Mobil Corporation will start drilling
oil in Sulu in 2009, Stephen Greenlee, vice president of
Exploration and Production, said after a courtesy call on
President Arroyo yesterday.
Greenlee said his company is "very encouraged
by the prospects" in the Philippines and is prepared to spend
"several billions of dollars" in developing oil fields in Sulu.
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said the entry
of Exxon is a major milestone in the oil exploration and
development efforts in the Philippines.
