Abu Sayyaf Continues To Hold 25 Hostages; President Resists Push For Martial Law

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says Abu Sayyaf militants are still holding 25 hostages in the southern Philippines, reports Agence France-Presse.

The minister said on Monday that he did not believe ransoms should be paid to the kidnappers.

Two Indonesian captives were freed last month after a US$400,000 ransom was paid, he said during a conference in Singapore. They two had been seized in June from a tugboat off the southern Philippines.

There has been public pressure...