Manila: The Philippine government assured the Indonesian and Malaysian governments of the safe release of four Indonesian and four Malaysian crewmen who were kidnapped by a southern Philippine-based militant group in the Celebes and Sulu Seas in late March and mid-April, a senior official said.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jose Rene D. Almendras “reassured the Indonesian and Malaysian governments that the Philippines continues intensified law enforcement operations on the ground in order to ensure the safe release of the remaining four Indonesian and four Malaysian abductees”, said a statement from Manila’s foreign affairs office on Friday. Almendras did not give details.

Almendras’ promise came after he and other foreign and defence ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines signed the Joint Declaration on Immediate Measures to Address Security Issues in the Maritime Areas of Common Concern among Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines in Yogyakarta on Thursday (May 5), to resolve piracy problems in the Celebes and Sulu Seas — problems that have been blamed entirely on the Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The ASG recently expressed allegiance to Daesh.

“I am very pleased at the conclusion of the trilateral meeting. I have been assured by Indonesia that vital shipping operations between our countries would soon be normalised,” said Almendras, adding that the joint maritime patrol agreement will allow the continuation of the Philippine government’s coal trade with Indonesia and food trade with Malaysia.

Indonesia’s Kalimantan Island supplies 96 per cent of coal that is needed by the Philippines, said Almendras. Malaysia’s Sabah supplies 80 per cent of food and goods needed in Tawi-Tawi and Basilan, said Congressman Jim Hataman Salliman and Congresswoman Ruby Sahali.

Indonesian and Malaysian port authorities stopped issuing permits to small ships that take coal and goods to the southern Philippines after ASG’s recent transnational attacks, which, Indonesia warned, could reach levels of piracy seen off Somalia.

On April 15, ASG members abducted four Indonesian crewmen of TB Henry, a towing vessel off Lahad Datu, Malaysia. On March 31, ASG members abducted four Malaysians crewmen from Malaysian-registered vessel TG Masfive 6 off Sabah’s Pulau Ligitan.

On March 26, ASG members kidnapped 10 Indonesian crewmen, seized their Taiwanese-registered barge, Anand 12, with 7,000 tonnes of coal, and tugboat Brahma 12 off Tawi-Tawi, southern Philippines. After 35 days, on May 1, the ASG released the 10 Indonesian crewmen following a reported payment of $1 million (Dh3.67 million) ransom.

ASG killed a Canadian whose ransom payment did not meet the group’s deadline of April 25. For more than 15 years, ASG has successfully launched high profile kidnap-for-ransom activities locally and trans-nationally, earning millions of dollars, and empowering its terror activities with modernised boats, communication equipment and weapons.

ASG’s menace continued even after the US started extending intelligence information to the Philippine military’s southern command in 2001.