Top Philippine TV reporter missing on rebel island

MANILA (Reuters) - One of the Philippines' top television reporters is missing on an island that is the hotbed of Islamic radicals linked to al Qaeda, the ABS-CBN network said on Tuesday.

It said that Ces Drilon and two other members of her TV crew were out of communication. "We are trying to re-establish contact and determine their exact location," the network said in a statement.

Police said Drilon was missing since Sunday, when she and the crew left a hostel on the island of Jolo. Drilon is a reporter and news anchor for ABS-CBN and also hosts current affairs talk shows for the network.

Abu Sayyaf militants, who are notorious for kidnapping for ransom, use the rugged interior of Jolo as a base along with Indonesian militants suspected of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the worst terrorist attack in the Philippines, the bombing of a ferry near Manila Bay in 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

(Reporting by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by David Fogarty)