He said they “beseech” the Canadian government to end military operations against Islamist groups in the southern Islands of the archipelago.
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The woman seated beside Hall did not speak.
The video shows the group sitting on the ground with a group of at least eleven masked, armed men standing behind them. The kidnappers do not identify their affiliation in the video, but the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group is a known militant presence in the area.
Arrojado, who has been leading months of offensives against Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila, said the assaults would not stop.
“To my family and friends, I’m okay but I’m in grave danger”.
I deliver a message to the Canadian government and to the Philippine government.
Canadians Robert Hall and John Ridsdel identify themselves in the video, as does Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad.
Authorities have still not ascertained which militant group took the hostages. One man also holds a large knife.
Ridsdel urges the Canadian and Philippine governments to stop all military operations in the island nation, as a blade is held inches from his head.
The camera then pans up to a militant whose face is covered with a green and black scarf, and who wears sunglasses.
“Number one is that there must be no military operations and there must be no artillery attack, and all that is harmful against us”, he said in fluent English.
The militants then start chanting in Arabic and raising their guns.
“The government’s aim is to ensure their safety and secure their release and all actions emanate from this”, presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma Jr said in response to the video. “I encourage you please to contact the Canadian government and ask them, plead with them, to co-operate with the Philippine government to stop the bombings and the problems that are going on here”. Norwegian media has identified Sekkingstad as one of the men in the video. The agency told the National Post it knew of the hostage situation and was “pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information”.
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Ridsdel, a former executive and now consultant to the mining firm TVI Resources Development, Inc.in southern Philippines, in his appeal, has virtually gave away their position, saying, military artillery fires were near them.
