UPDATE 4-Canada PM condemns 'cold-blooded murder' of Philippines hostage

(Adds comment from family, friend, former employer)
By Andrea Hopkins and Manuel Mogato
KANANASKIS, Alberta/MANILA, April 25 (Reuters) - Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned on Monday the execution
of a Canadian hostage by Abu Sayyaf militants in the
Philippines, calling it "an act of cold-blooded murder."
John Ridsdel, 68, a former mining executive, was captured by
Islamist militants along with three other people in September
2015 while on vacation on a Philippine island.
The Philippine army said a severed head was found on a
remote island on Monday, five hours after the expiry of a ransom
deadline set by militants who had threatened to execute one of
four captives.
"Canada condemns without reservation the brutality of the
hostage-takers and this unnecessary death. This was an act of
cold-blooded murder and responsibility rests squarely with the
terrorist group who took him hostage," Trudeau told reporters on
the sidelines of a cabinet meeting.
"The government of Canada is committed to working with the
government of the Philippines and international partners to
pursue those responsible for this heinous act."
Trudeau declined to respond when asked whether the Canadian
government had tried to negotiate with the captors or pay a
ransom, or whether it was trying to secure the release of the
other Canadian being held, Robert Hall.
"Obviously there was talk of money involved, but not by the
government of Canada or by the government of Norway, but
certainly by the families attempting to do what they could to
free the four," said Bob Rae, a former federal politician and
longtime Ridsdel friend.
"But it's been an awful process, just horrendous," he told
Canadian television.
In a statement, Ridsdel's family said they were devastated
his life had been "cut tragically short by this senseless act of
violence despite us doing everything within our power to bring
him home."
Ridsdel, Hall and the other captives, a Norwegian man and a
Filipino woman, had appealed in a March video for their families
and governments to secure their release.
Residents found the head in the center of Jolo town. An army
spokesman said two men on a motorcycle were seen dropping a
plastic bag containing the severed head.
A Philippine army spokesman said al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf
militants had threatened to behead one of four captives on
Monday if the 300 million pesos ($6.4 million) ransom for each
of them was not paid by 3 p.m. local time.
The initial demand was one billion pesos each for the
detainees, who were taken hostage at an upscale resort on Samal
Island on Sept. 21.
Ridsdel's former employer described him as gregarious,
adventurous and warm.
"We are in profound shock, disbelief and sorrow to have lost
our former colleague and close friend," Calgary-based mining
company TVI Pacific TVI.TO said in an emailed statement.
Abu Sayyaf is a small but brutal militant group known for
beheading, kidnapping, bombing and extortion in the south of the
mainly Catholic country.
It decapitated a hostage from Malaysia in November last year
on the same day that country's prime minister arrived in Manila
for an international summit. Philippine President Benigno Aquino
ordered troops to intensify action against the militants.
Security is precarious in the southern Philippines, despite
a 2014 peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim
rebel group that ended 45 years of conflict.
Abu Sayyaf is also holding other foreigners, including one
from the Netherlands, one from Japan, four Malaysians and 14
Indonesian tugboat crew.
($1 = 46.8930 Philippine pesos)