I don't think I'll be allowed to go back to Sulu again - Ces

MANILA, Philippines - Freed broadcast journalist Cecilia Victoria “Ces" Oreña-Drilon is not keen on going back to Sulu province, but still considers doing assignments in Mindanao. “I don’t think my office and my family would allow me to go there (Sulu) again. Pero malawak naman ang Mindanao ‘di ba?" Drilon said upon arrival at the Ninoy International Airport from Zamboanga City around 2 p.m. Wednesday. Abu Sayyaf bandits on Wednesday morning released Drilon, who works for ABS-CBN network, along with her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and Mindanao-based professor Octavio Dinampo. They spent nine days in captivity. Their driver, Angelo Valderama, who was abducted with them, was released last June 12. Drilon arrived in NAIA with Encarnacion and Valderama. They were accompanied by Sen. Loren Legarda. “Lubos na nagpapasalamat kaming tatlo. Nagpapasalamat ako sa gobyerno. Ang dami-daming tumulong. I had no idea na ang daming nagdadasal, nagmamahal habang nasa kadiliman kami na hindi naming alam kung mabubuhay pa kami," Drilon said. (We are greatly thankful for the government. There were many individuals who helped. I had no idea that many people who prayed for us and showed their love while we were in the darkness, not even knowing if we will live.) Admitting she did not heed prior warnings, Drilon said she felt sorry for endangering the lives of Encarnacion, Valderama, and Dinampo, a professor from the Mindanao State University who served as the new team’s guide in Sulu. “I put the lives of my team in danger so it was really a very sobering experience to me," she said. The broadcast journalist also showed equal concern on the pressure that her family had to go through during their ordeal. “I was so irresponsible in a way to do that to my children and my mother and my sisters and brothers, to put them in an ordeal like that," she said. She also shared how the four of them uplifted each other’s spirit while being held by abductors, which Encarnacion said numbered to more than 20. Drilon and Ecarnacion are set to check in at the Medical City Hospital in Pasig City to undergo a medical check-up and stay there for several days. A radio report said that security has already been tightened at the said hospital even as rooms had already been prepared for Drilon and Encarnacion. Doctors and nurses are already on standby to check if the victims developed any allergy or sickness, as the two were brought and kept in the mountains. - GMANews.TV