March 1, 2000, BusinessWorld (Philippines), Peace talks to proceed despite bombings, by Lugo, Leotes,
March 21, 2000, BusinessWorld, Moro terrorists abduct Basilan priest, teacher, (Second abduction by Abu Sayyaf this month) by Cathy Rose A. Garcia,
March 21, 2000 , The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf rebels take 77 people hostage in Basilan,
March 21, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Page 3: Abu Sayyaf rebels seize 2 Basilan schools,
March 21, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Autonomy or Separation; MNLF warns of war again,
March 22, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Basilan rebels threaten to kill 43 hostages, by Julia Alipala-Inot,
March 22, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Erap orders all-out war vs Moro rebels
March 22, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Muslim Rebels Threaten to Kill 43 Hostages,
March 23, 2000, BusinessWorld, Gov't won t negotiate for hostages release,
March 23, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu Sayyaf rebs free pregnant woman, 2 boys
March 23, 2000, The Philippine Star, AFP won't negotiate with Sayyaf for hostages' release,Paolo Romero,
March 23, 2000, The Philippine Star, 2 kidnap victims rescued, by Roel Pareno,
March 24, 2000, BusinessWorld, Gov't to get back Basilan hostages from Abu Sayyaf,
March 24, 2000, AP Online, Muslim Rebels Threaten Hostages,
March 24, 2000, The Philippine Star, 'Crisis committee' to handle Sayyaf negotiations,
March 25, 2000, Daily Inquirer, p.A1: Abu Sayyaf chief's kin abducted, [cont. p.A21] Julie Alipala-Inot,
March 25, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Page 21: Abu Sayyaf chief's kin abducted,
March 25, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Muslims Release Hostages,
March 25, 2000, The Philippine Star, Military ready to help fight kidnaps,
March 26, 2000, The Philippine Star, 18 Abu Sayyaf hostages freed, by Roel Pareño, with Paolo Romero,
March 26, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Abu Sayyaf Frees 18 Basilan Hostages
March 27, 2000, The Philippine Star, Sayyaf to kill captives if Janjalani's kin not freed,
March 27, 2000, BusinessWorld, Result of abduction of rebel leader's relatives Abu Sayyaf seen releasing more hostages,
March 28, 2000, The Philippine Star, Military braces for possible attacks on NPA anniversary,
March 28, 2000, The Philippine Star, Gov't negotiator with Sayyaf quits,
March 28, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Negotiator quits; fate of Abu Sayyaf hostages in jeopardy,
March 30, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Trail of beheadings
March 31, 2000, BusinessWorld, Moro leftist rebels forge new alliance,
April 10, 2000, The Philippine Star, Vigilantes threaten to rescue Sayyaf hostages, by Roel Pareño,
April 13, 2000, BusinessWorld, Padilla sees Abu Sayyaf leaders at Basilan camp, by Cathy Rose A.Garcia,April 18, 2000, Philippine Headline News, News Blackout Poised Over Abu Sayyaf Antics,
April 19, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Rebuffed, Sayyaf to Behead 2 Male Hostages Today,
April 19, 2000, Associated Press / Christian Science Monitor, Philippines' rebel threats escalate,
April 20, 2000, Philippine Headline News, 2 Abu Sayyaf Hostages Beheaded,
April 24, 2000, Associated Press / Los Angeles Times, Philippine Forces Attack Muslim Rebels,
April 24, 2000, New Straits Times, Nine rebels killed in clashes, Troops pound Abu Sayyaf camp to rescue,
April 24, 2000, Manila Bulletin, 28 killed as army presses drive to save hostages, by Aris R. Ilagan,
April 25, 2000, Philippine Headline News, 3 Soldiers, 25 Rebels Killed in Basilan Assault,
April 25, 2000, Inquirer, AFP: We'll finish rescue on Wednesday, by Julie Alipala-Inot, Carlito Pablo,
May 3, 2000, AP, Four hostages reported killed as troops, rebels clash in Philippines, by Jim Gomez,
May 3, 2000, New York Times, Report of 2 Hostage Deaths in Philippines Disputed,
May 4, 2000, New York Times, Four Hostages Found Slain in the Philippines,
May 4, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Bin Laden sighted in Mindanao on March 18 - report,
May 4, 2000, The Cincinnati Post (OH), Rebels Execute Priest Gunfire Erupts During Rescue,
May 4, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Troops rescue 15 Basilan hostages; priest, 3 others die; 2 foreigners dead in Jolo, say Abu Sayyaf, by Isabel C. De Leon, Aris R. Ilagan,
May 4, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Troops rescue 15 Basilan hostages; priest, 3 others die; 2 foreigners dead in Jolo, say Abu Sayyaf, by Isabel C. De Leon, Aris R. Ilagan,
May 4, 2000, Reuters / The Guardian, Philippine rebels split up hostages, by Erik de Castro in Jolo,
May 4, 2000, The Columbian (Vancouver) Rebels Execute Philippine Priest, by Jim Gomez,
May 4, 2000, AP Online, Officials: Filipino Priest Executed, by Jim Gomez,
May 4, 2000, The Buffalo News, Slain Priest was Tortured by Rebels, 320 words,
May 4, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Hostages Reveal Horrors, by Oliver Teves,
May 4, 2000, AP Online, 4 Hostages Killed in Philippines, by Jim Gomez,
May 5, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu tortured, shot victims in the back, by Julie S. Alipala-Inot,
May 5, 2000, Associated Press, Rescued hostages say they were tortured,, by Oliver Teves,
May 5, 2000, Manila Bulletin, 18 Dead in Lanao Gunbattle, 700+ words,
May 5, 2000, The Birmingham Post (England), Foreigners 'Escape from Muslim Extremists' 487 words,
May 5, 2000, Albany Times Union / AP, Rescued Hostages Describe Torture, by Oliver Teves,
May 6, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 'They fed us twice only when Robin came,' by Julie Alipala-Inot,
May 6, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Pope appeals to Abu Sayyaf to release all their hostages,
May 7, 2000, New York Times, Europe Moves To Help 21 Rebels Hold In Philippines,
May 7, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Siazon assures European envoys,
May 7, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Town Mourns Slain Priest,
May 8, 2000, Newsweek Magazine, Trouble in Paradise, by Marites D. Vitug, T. J. Tan,
May 11, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Missionary work will continue -- Sin,
May 11, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Gov't frees 15 hostages: Priest, 3 others killed in clash,
May 12, 2000, BusinessWorld, Vector: Looking at the Mindanao crisis. 700+ words
May 4, 2000, AP Online, Officials: Filipino Priest Executed, by Jim Gomez,
May 4, 2000, The Buffalo News, Slain Priest was Tortured by Rebels, 320 words,
May 4, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Hostages Reveal Horrors, by Oliver Teves,
May 4, 2000, AP Online, 4 Hostages Killed in Philippines, by Jim Gomez,
May 5, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu tortured, shot victims in the back, by Julie S. Alipala-Inot,
May 5, 2000, Associated Press, Rescued hostages say they were tortured,, by Oliver Teves,
May 5, 2000, Manila Bulletin, 18 Dead in Lanao Gunbattle, 700+ words,
May 5, 2000, The Birmingham Post (England), Foreigners 'Escape from Muslim Extremists' 487 words,
May 5, 2000, Albany Times Union / AP, Rescued Hostages Describe Torture, by Oliver Teves,
May 6, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 'They fed us twice only when Robin came,' by Julie Alipala-Inot,
May 6, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Pope appeals to Abu Sayyaf to release all their hostages,
May 7, 2000, New York Times, Europe Moves To Help 21 Rebels Hold In Philippines,
May 7, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Siazon assures European envoys,
May 7, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Town Mourns Slain Priest,
May 8, 2000, Newsweek Magazine, Trouble in Paradise, by Marites D. Vitug, T. J. Tan,
May 11, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Missionary work will continue -- Sin,
May 11, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Gov't frees 15 hostages: Priest, 3 others killed in clash,
May 12, 2000, BusinessWorld, Vector: Looking at the Mindanao crisis. 700+ words
May 17, 2000, BusinessWorld, Pinoy na Pinoy: Waging war on its own people, 700+ words,
May 19, 2000, National Catholic Reporter, Four hostages die in rescue operation.
June 8, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Abu Sayyaf may free 6 children,
June 17, 2000, AP Online, 5 Filipino Child Hostages Released,
July 7, 2000, Philippine Headline News, TV Preacher Beheaded by Sayyaf?,
July 8, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Preacher's Release Not Top Priority
July 18, 2000, Philippine Headline News, M.I.L.F. Rebels Massacre 21 Christians,
July 24-25, 2000, CWNews.com, Muslim Rebels Release Two Filipino Catholic Teachers,
August 25, 2000, BusinessWorld, Vector: Robotics, not 'Robot', 700+ words
January 4, 2001, Filipino Reporter, Priest, driver shot dead in Jolo: Abu Sayyaf band eyed,
June 3, 2001, The Philippine Star, Abus seize hospital, take 200 hostages, by Roel Pareno, Jaime Laude,
December 12, 2001 , The Boston Herald, Many learn about Islam the hard way.(Editorial) by Don Feder,
January 2, 2001, FIDES/CWNews.com, Fides Lists 30 Missionaries Slain in 2000,
January 4, 2001, Filipino Reporter, Priest, driver shot dead in Jolo: Abu Sayyaf band eyed,
April 12, 2004, Manila Bulletin, 19 Basilan jail escapees captured; 8 others killed,
July 19, 2004, Philippine Star, Our Foolish 'Truce' W / MILF Crippled Drive Vs, Terrorists, Max Soliven,
March 30, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Trail of beheadings,
November 22, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Is this any way to treat our teachers?
May 2, 2010, Discover Our Catholic Faith blogspot, May 2, 2010 (5th Sunday of Easter),
June 20, 2010, News Break Archives, 'I even thought of committing suicide', by Marissa Rante,
March 1, 2000, BusinessWorld (Philippines), Peace talks to proceed despite bombings, by Lugo, Leotes
[Excerpts:]
Also yesterday, MILF denied involvement in any of the recent bombings in Mindanao, claiming the attacks are part of a plot to picture rebels as terrorists.
MILF vice-chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad said the bombings were also activities of "deep penetration agents"of the military seeking to destabilize the government.
"The MILF leadership is not stupid enough to do something that will backfire on us," Mr. Murad told a radio interview.
Mr. Murad said the rebels were able to arrest recently three military "deep penetration agents" who admitted being part of a coup plot against Mr. Estrada.
He also said the resumption of peace talks tomorrow may be sabotaged given weak security arrangements and unrest in Mindanao.
March 21, 2000 , The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf rebels take 77 people hostage in Basilan,
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A group of Muslim extremist guerrillas attacked an Army outpost early yesterday in Basilan and seized 77 people, including a priest and students from two schools, the military said.
About 60 members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group staged the attack on the outpost in the village of Tumahubong in Sumisip town, said Col. Hilario Atendido, civilian-military relations chief of the military's Southern Command.
Atentido said about 50 of the students were later freed by the rebels, who were led by commanders Isnilon Hapilon and Khadafy Montaño Janjalani, brother of slain Abu Sayyaf chieftain Ustadz Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.
As the rebels fled from pursuing troops, some swooped down on a Catholic high school and seized the parish priest, the Rev. Roel Gallardo, director of the Claret High School; school principal Reynaldo Rubio, six teachers and 39 students, the military said.
Five of the teachers were identified as Annebelle Mendoza, Marissa Mante, Winiefer Hilario, Nourhaida Kotoh and Ernesto Arellano.
Other rebels seized seven elementary and four high school teachers from the Sinangkapan National High School in nearby Tuburan town, Atendido said. One of the teachers was later rescued by soldiers.
The rebels apparently seized the students and teachers to use them as "human shields" against pursuing soldiers, Atendido said.
They later released 20 students unharmed, he said.
The rebels refused to negotiate with the police and the military, but asked for a doctor and wanted to talk with reporters, said Alan Cajucom, head of the local Red Cross chapter.
Cajucom said the rebels, who called from a cellular telephone, did not state any immediate demands.
The Abu Sayyaf was also suspected in the abduction last week of two elementary school teachers in a village in Zamboanga City. The teachers are still being held.
The attack in Basilan came as troops pursued guerrillas of another Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who attacked military outposts in four towns in Lanao del Norte province on the southern island of Mindanao.
Clashes that followed those attacks left more than 80 guerrillas and 11 soldiers dead. Seven civilians also were killed, officials said.
The Office of Civil Defense said the fighting has forced more than 7,500 people to flee their villages in four Lanao del Norte towns. The evacuees were given shelter in school buildings, it said.
Lanao del Norte Gov. Imelda Dimaporo said the number of evacuees could be bigger since three other towns were not included in the civil defense list. She did not give details.
She said Muslim vendors in the capital of Tubod have left the town for fear of retaliation from Christian residents.
The Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two Muslim rebel groups, has been blamed for numerous attacks against Christians, including foreign missionaries, in the southern Philippines.
March 21, 2000, BusinessWorld (Philippines) Moro terrorists abduct Basilan priest, teacher (Second abduction by Abu Sayyaf this month).by Cathy Rose A. Garcia,
Suspected Moro terrorists belonging to the Abu Sayyaf abducted a Catholic priest, a private high school principal, a high school teacher and a student in Basilan yesterday.
Initial reports from the Armed Forces Southern Command based in Zamboanga City identify two of the abduction victims as priest RuelGallardo and principal Reynaldo Rubio.
The teacher and the high school student who were also abducted, both from the Catholic-run Claret High School, are still to be identified.
Their abductors reportedly retreated towards the direction of Bgy. Sukatin. They have yet to demand for ransom for the release of the victims.
Meanwhile, the Southern Command also reported that around 60 Abu Sayyaf members attacked an Army detachment in Bgy. Tumahubong in Sumisip, Basilan at around 8 a.m. yesterday.
The fire fight lasted for about 30 minutes, the command said. In its report, it also said the attack could have been a diversion to minimize military attention on the abduction.
Two soldiers were reportedly injured in the fire fight.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces spokesman Col. Rafael Romero tried to downplay the apparent increase in Abu Sayyaf-initiated abductions in Minda-nao.
The military earlier declared the Abu Sayyaf a "spent" force, after the death of its leader in 1998.
"I think the Abu Sayyaf is still a force to reckon with, although they have dissipated in numbers. We continue to recognize the Abu Sayyaf as a threat," Mr. Romero told reporters at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
The Abu Sayyaf strength is placed at 1,000 members.
Yesterday's abduction was the second time this month by the Abu Sayyaf group. On March 9, Abu Sayyaf members abducted two public school teachers in Zamboanga City.
Mr. Romero said members of the 10th Infantry Battalion have been deployed to hunt down Abu Sayyaf members.
March 22 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Erap orders all-out war vs Moro rebels
[Excerpts]
Kauswagan Mayor Moamar Jack Maruhom is suspended by President Estrada pending investigarion of the residents' charges against him of "cowardice" and "connivance."
The President said he aasked his LAMP partymate, Kauswagan Mayor Moamar Jack Maruhom to go on leave while the Department of Interior and Local Government is investigating his alleged "cowardice" and "connivance." with the MILF during the MILF rebels' occupation of the town.
March 22 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Basilan rebels threaten to kill 43 hostages, by Julie Alipala-Inot, PDI Mindanao Bureau
ZAMBOANGA CITY---More extremist rebels in nearby Basilan province yesterday offered to free some of the civilians they are holding hostage in exchange for food and medicine, But the reebels belonging to the extremist group Al Haratul Islamiya threatened to kill the hostages, including a priest and 21 elementary school students, if the military launches an assault.
"In the name of God, please release the innocent people," Fr. Angel Calvo of the Claretian Missionary Fathers appealed to the armed men who seized the hostages Monday after a daring attack on an Army detachment.
"If they bring food to us, we will free some some of thw hostages. They can take some of the children," Abu Ahmnad Salayuddin, spokesperson of the Al Haratul Islamiya, said in a radio interview monitored in Zamboanga City.
"We will not harm the hostages but if the military launches an operation to rescue the victims...the blood will be on your hands," Salayuddin, alias Sumaya, warned.
The Al Haratul Islamiya is the new name of the Abu Sayyaf group which was responsible for a series of kidnappings, bombings and other terrorist attacks in Western Mindanao [more]
March 22, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Muslim Rebels Threaten to Kill 43 Hostages,
Zamboanga City, March 22, 2000 - A group of heavily armed rebels belonging to the Muslim fundamentalist group Abu Sayyaf threatened yesterday to kill their hostages if the government forces continue to launch rescue operations.
The rebels, however, offered to free some of the children held captive in exchange for food and medicine.
Undeterred by the group's warnings, Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said the troops would pursue their operations against the Abu Sayyaf. But he asked the rebels not to harm their captives, pointing out that the hostages were civilians who had nothing to do with the conflict.
"If they bring the food to us, we will free some of the hostages. They can take some of the children," Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad Alajudin said in a radio interview in Zamboanga City.
He confirmed that they were still holding 43 civilians, consisting of 27 elementary and high school students, a Catholic priest and 15 teachers of the Claret school in Barangay Sampinit in Isabela, Basilan.
The hostages were seized after the rebels tried to attack last Monday an Army outpost in the village of Tumahubong in Sumisip town in Basilan.
"We will not harm the hostages, but if the military launches an operation to rescue the victims, it is up to them. The blood will be on their hands," Admad warned.
He also said one of the captives was pregnant and had a miscarriage. "We need a doctor and a female Red Cross worker to cure the sick and the injured," he added.
Ahmad said they would negotiate only with members of the Claretian order and a local politician, Candu Muarip.
Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom), said he has ordered his men to ensure the safety of the hostages.
Heavily armed Abu Sayyaf fundamentalist guerrillas stormed the Army outpost early Monday morning, triggering a 30-minute firefight that left two soldiers wounded.
But the troops' gallant defense, forced the rebels to withdraw toward the Claret High School where they seized Fr. Roel Gallardo, school principal Reynaldo Rubio, five other teachers and a large group of students.
Later that day, another group of Abu Sayyaf rebels swooped down on Sinangcapan High School in Tuburan town where they abducted 11 teachers.
Southcom spokesman Col. Hilario Atendido said the guerrillas holding the teachers and students were led by Insilon Hapilon and Kadafi Janjalani, brother of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.
Villanueva raised the possibility that the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf were acting in concert to draw attention away from MILF units under siege by the military.
Addressing soldiers in Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte yesterday, the President said there would be no letup in the government's anti-insurgency drive.
"I am warning them, I will not ease up. We will not rest... my soldiers will not rest until they (rebels) are defeated," Mr. Estrada said before hundreds of soldiers and townsfolk in Kauswagan which was occupied last week by some 400 MILF guerrillas.
As the Chief Executive spoke, Army artillery could be heard from a distance as fighting between the troops and the MILF rebels raged.
Grim-looking presidential guards, armed with assault rifles, formed a human wall around the President to protect him from snipers as he alighted from a military helicopter to pin medals on the soldiers.
At the town hall where glass windows were shattered during last week's fighting, Mr. Estrada ate a lunch of noodles and smoked fish with the troops.
"The attack on Kauswagan was a direct challenge to our government. We will not let them spread fear and terror among our people," Mr. Estrada stressed.
The military had claimed some 100 MILF guerrillas were killed in last week's clashes, but the rebel group insisted they lost only seven men.
Meanwhile, the Vatican representative to Manila has telephoned the Basilan prelature to express his concern over the abductions.
Fr. Martin Jumuad, chancellor to the Basilan prelature, said on the radio that the papal nuncio was "very much worried."
"The only assurance that he is saying to us is that he will raise this immediately to the attention of the Pope and he assured us of his prayers," Jumuad said.
He also appealed to the rebels to release the children, saying they are innocent.
The priest also said the church was willing to negotiate and provide food.
The Abu Sayyaf was blamed for last month's simultaneous bomb attacks on two police stations and a restaurant in Basilan, killing one person and wounding 17 others.
Meanwhile, the President ordered the 15-day suspension of Kauswagan Mayor Moamar Maruhom for allegedly abandoning his constituents at the town hall during the MILF attack. Vice Mayor Peddy Milan was designated as officer-in-charge.
Lanao del Norte Gov. Imelda Dimaporo has denied allegations she was sympathetic to the MILF. Dimaporo said while they are also Muslims, it did not mean they were supporting the MILF.
"I have not even seen or met any of the MILF commanders, but I have received extortion letters from them asking for money or revolutionary taxes which I did not give," the governor said.
Despite the resurgence of hostilities in Mindanao, Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon said that the National Security Council remained confident that a peace treaty with the MILF could be concluded by June 30, the deadline set by Mr. Estrada.
March 23, 2000, The Philippine Star, 2 kidnap victims rescued, by Roel Pareno,
ZAMBOANGA CITY - Two kidnapped teachers were rescued yesterday by government troopers in Basilan province after 13 days of captivity.
Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Southern Command, said Leticia Calo and Maybelline Apolinario, both assigned in Cabaluay Elementary School east of this city were freed somewhere in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.
Villanueva said the victims were abandoned by their captors led by a certain Darah Sela following pressures from the pursuing troops of the 10th Infantry Battalion.
Villanueva said the two kidnap victims looked haggard and tired. They will be ferried to the Camp Navarro General Hospital for treatment.
Villannueva added that the Army troops continue to pursue the kidnap suspects who are believed to be still hiding in Tipo-Tipo.
Meanwhile, two more men were abducted the other day in a daring attack along the Cotabato City national highway while government forces were busy searching for a kidnapped merchant and his driver in a nearby town.
The latest kidnap victims, Felix Villanueva, of Midsayap, North Cotabato, and Jerry Calungsag, were believed taken by their captors to Liguasan Marsh, a waterway straddling rebel territories in Pagalungan, Maguindanao.
The abduction of the duo was puled off while policemen and soldiers were scouring the marshes at the borders of Matalam and Ming towns in North Cotabato in search of construction firm owner Genero Torqueza and his driver, Avelino Alagario. - With John Unson
42 hostages
March 23, 2000, The Philippine Star, AFP won't negotiate with Sayyaf for hostages' release, by Paolo Romero,
Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes rejected yesterday any negotiation with the Muslim fundamentalist group Abu Sayyaf for the release of 42 hostages still being held in two jungle hideouts in Basilan.
Earlier, the guerrillas released a pregnant teacher and two students to representatives of the Philippine National Red Cross and the Roman Catholic Church, said Red Cross provincial head Alan Cajucom.
In Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, President Estrada warned the Abu Sayyaf yesterday that the government will crush it if the group does not make peace before the June 30 deadline.
In Basilan, regional military officials said they are still trying to confirm reports that other hostages had been released aside from the three.
"Our policy is that we don't negotiate with terrorists and this is because what the terrorists want is to terrorize us," Reyes told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo.
"What we would like to happen, what we are doing is that we are continuing recovery efforts and pursuit operations so that we can recover the hostages," he said.
However, Reyes said the military does not oppose other groups negotiating for the hostages' release as long as they would not hamper efforts to rescue them.
"If some people would want to try their efforts in negotiating with them, and they are successful, that's good," he said. "But (military) operations would continue."
The Abu Sayyaf has threatened to kill the hostages if they are not given food and the military does not halt attempts to rescue the captives.
But Reyes expressed hope that the Abu Sayyaf would not make good its threat to kill the hostages.
"It would reveal the real character of these people as terrorists," he said.
Hadji Sabayan, Abu Sayyaf spokesman, said the group will only release the hostages to a representative of the Vatican and Basilan Rep. Gerry Salappudin.
Of the original 50 hostages, 42 were kidnapped in Barangay Tumahumbong and eight were taken from Barangay Sinangkapan, both in Basilan. They included 30 students, teachers and officials from Claret School in Tumahumbong, and a Catholic priest.
Cajucom told a radio interview that the Red Cross and Church emissaries walked for several hours in the Basilan jungle for a rendezvous with the three hostages and some of their captors.
He said the emissaries handed over several sacks of rice, canned goods and medicines to the guerrillas, but were not allowed to see or speak to the rest of the hostages.
The pregnant teacher, Winnifer Rosa Selerio, was reportedly very weak and was taken by boat to a military hospital in Zamboanga City.
"The rebels separated the hostages," Abdulrahman Asjad, one of the freed students, said. "They asked us about our religions and who are Muslims and who are Christians."
Cajucom identified some of the hostages as Marisa Rante, Annabelle Arellano, Nurthaida Kotoh, Saida Sahirin, Nila Ahajud, Macario Mandun, Abubakar Denil, Sahjuen Sijen, Ruben Democrito, Rodolfo Iron, Dante Uban, Nelson Enriquez, Lalda Adjun, Teresita Academia, Erlinda Manuel, Edith Suname, and Albert Sahao, all teachers; and Darry Reanbursa, Crisanto Ryan Lapulan, Ian Ray Lucid, Crisalyn Reanbursa, Anessa Caluton, Romela Mendoza, Nova Veralco, Hazel dela Torre, Josel dela Torre, Rellos Tria, Jennelyn Emo, Lynlyn Cachuela, Joan Barredo, Juliet Tonghay, Christelle Deva, Bon-Bon Tejalbo, Christie Vergara, Cherry Vergara, and Marie Christine Francisco.
The Abu Sayyaf attack came as clashes continued between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in southern Lanao del Norte. -- With Alvin Tarroza, Roel Pareño, AP, AFP
51 hostages
March 24, 2000, AP Online, Muslim Rebels Threaten Hostages,
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -- Muslim extremists accused authorities Friday of abducting 11 relatives of their rebel chief and warned that they will kill 51 of their hostages if the relatives are not freed.
"We will not hesitate to execute all the hostages," said Abu Ahmad, a spokesman of the rebel Abu Sayyaf group.
The hostages held by the rebels at a jungle hide-out on the southern island of Basilan include a Catholic priest and students and teachers seized from two schools on Monday.
Ahmad said followers of Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar raided the house of rebel leader Khadaffy Janjalani early Friday and abducted his wife, their 1-year-old daughter, his mother and seven other relatives.
Another relative was abducted by men in police uniforms riding in an ambulance on Thursday, apparently to force the Abu Sayyaf group to release their 51 hostages, Ahmad said. Akbar's spokesman, Hader Glang, denied involvement in any kidnapping.
Ahmad met reporters in a jungle near Basilan's Maluso town Thursday and told them the hostages are being cared for but need more food and medicine.
Military chief of staff Gen. Angelo Reyes said troops have been ordered to continue pursuing the rebels in Basilan, 560 miles south of Manila.
Clashes continued Friday between the military and a larger rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in southern Lanao del Norte province. The fighting, which began last week, has killed more than 110 guerrillas and 11 soldiers, the military said.
The MILF and Abu Sayyaf are both battling the Manila government for an independent Islamic nation in the southern Philippines. The MILF is engaged in peace talks with the government, but often clashes with soldiers.
President Joseph Estrada, who has set a June 30 deadline for the peace talks, has ordered an "all out war" against the rebels if they continue attacks.
Also Friday, officials reported that a Communist rebel group has proposed a resumption of peace talks, but only if they are held outside the Philippines, a condition they said the government cannot accept.
Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Sison, who lives in self-imposed exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht, made the proposal in a meeting with Philippine Ambassador Eloy Bello, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The rebels withdrew from the peace talks in May after the Philippine Senate approved an agreement with the United States allowing the resumption of large-scale U.S. military exercises.
The communist rebels said the agreement violated Philippine sovereignty, but Estrada has said they were using it as an excuse to end negotiations. The rebels, active since the late 1960s, say their security cannot be guaranteed if the talks are held here.
42 hostages
March 24, 2000, The Philippine Star, 'Crisis committee' to handle Sayyaf negotiations,
The government will form a "crisis management committee" that will spearhead negotiations with fundamentalist Muslim rebels holding hostage at least 42 students, teachers and a Catholic priest in the southern island province of Basilan.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado stressed that the government negotiators should insist on a no-ransom policy.
National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said the committee will be made up of local government officials, but would fall under his direct supervision in negotiating with the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The Abu Sayyaf extremist guerrillas stormed a Catholic school and a government-run high school last Sunday in Basilan after a failed attack on an Army outpost.
They seized at least 45 students, teachers and the priest, but freed a pregnant woman and two boys on Wednesday.
"We will provide all the necessary guidance and advice to the provincial crisis management committee to see to it that the primordial concern of safety of the hostages will be undertaken, and we will proceed to the ground with myself as representative," Aguirre said.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad said yesterday they will release 10 more captives in exchange for 200 sacks of rice, canned goods and medicines to be delivered to the rebel hideout by local Red Cross representatives and the Roman Catholic church.
Ahmad relayed the demand to Basilan Rep. Abdulgani Salapuddin who initiated talks with the rebels late Wednesday.
Ahmad also urged the military to call off pursuit operations, warning that it would only endanger the lives of the hostages who would be "killed like goats and sent to the town."
One of the captured teachers, Erlinda Manuel, told a local radio station many of the hostages, especially the children, were suffering from fever and flu and badly needed medicines.
"We also need food, clothes and other supplies," the teacher said by telephone from the rebels' jungle hideout.
To assure the people that the hostages are safe, Ahmad allowed four others to speak on the radio. They were teachers Annabel Mendoza and Lida Ajon, and students Jay-Jay Raimbonanza, 10, and Bon Adolf Sihalbo, 12.
Salapuddin said he would ask the defense department and the military to halt the troops' offensive to allow for negotiations for the safe release of the captives.
"Rescue operations must be stopped during the negotiations and until all the hostages have been released," Salapuddin said.
Mercado asserted, however, that the military would not object to negotiations being led by civilians, but stressed that the government's no-ransom policy should be upheld.
For his part, regional Army chief Brig. Gen. Narciso Abaya said Salapuddin should coordinate first with the military before starting the negotiations with the rebels.
"We will not fall into a trap where the rebels would use the negotiations to delay the release of all the captives," Abaya stressed.
The Abu Sayyaf attack on the two schools in Basilan came as government forces were trying to flush out guerrillas of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in mainland Mindanao where sporadic fighting has been raging since Wednesday last week, leaving scores of people dead or wounded.
Some 80 MILF rebels ambushed an Army patrol in Lanao del Norte, wounding three soldiers. -- Mike Frialde, Jess Diaz, Sandy Araneta, Alvin Tarroza, John Unson, Roel Parreño, AFP report
Visiting Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte late Wednesday, President Estrada ordered the military to crush the armed struggle in the island. "If we must smash them, we will smash them all. What they are doing is too much."
The President said while the peace talks with the MILF would continue, the military would press its offensive against criminals, kidnappers and terrorists.
Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera supported the President's position on the insurgency issue.
"I have always abhorred violence, but there are times when you need to take off the kid gloves against recalcitrant elements," Herrera said.
He claimed the MILF has been taking advantage of the peace process to encroach on civilian communities and raid Army and police detachments. "While we are holding peace talks, they continue to kidnap and occupy small towns to the detriment of the poor people."
In other developments, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) batted for the continuance of peaceful negotiations between the government and the MILF, and twitted Mr. Estrada for ordering an all-out offensive against the communist and Muslim.
CBCP secretary general and spokesman Bishop Nestor Cariño said Mr. Estrada's tough stance could weaken the peace talks.
Cariño also revealed that Bishop Romulo de la Cruz has been designated to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the safe release of the hostages in Basilan.
The Bishop-Ulama Forum of Western Mindanao, a religious organization of Christian and Muslim leaders, also appealed to the Abu Sayyaf to immediately free their hostages.
In a manifesto, the group also asked the military to call off any offensive that might endanger the lives of the captives.
Meanwhile, sporadic clashes between government forces and MILF guerrillas continued in Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao provinces.
The Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom) said at least three soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Sapad and Linamon towns in Lanao del Norte and in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao.
The wounded soldiers were identified as Cpl. Emmanuel Nacyfuna, Pfc. Jerry Valdez and Pfc. Renante Adolfo.
Southcom spokesman Col. Hillary Atendido claimed that undetermined number of MILF fighters were slain in the skirmishes.
Some 80 MILF guerrillas clashed with elements of the Army's 26th Infantry Battalion.
The fighting took place a few hours after a one-hour encounter in Linamon, involving troops from the Army's 1st Infantry Division and some 100 MILF rebels.
33 hostages March 26, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Abu Sayyaf Frees 18 Basilan Hostages
Isabela, Basilan, March 26, 2000 - The extremist rebel group Abu Sayyaf released 18 hostages yesterday and promised to free even more hostages if its demands for 200 sacks of rice were met.
The 18 hostages returned to the capital with Basilan Rep. Abdulgani Salapuddin, head of the government negotiators who earlier met with the Muslim rebel group in the hinterlands of this island-province.
Regional military chief Brig. Gen. Narciso Abaya said the released hostages included the youngest, a four-year-old boy. Most of those still being held are teachers and students.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad said in a radio interview the group would "release more as negotiations continue."
Salapuddin said the release of the 18 - composed of eight teachers and 10 students - brought the number still being held by the extremists down to 33.
The released hostages were identified as Ernesto Arellano, principal of Tumahubong Elementary School, Macario Mautdon, Albert Sahaw, Nita Asidin, Nurhalda Kotoh Abubakar, Saida Sabirin, Sahiduan Sahijan, Pairusa Sabirin, all teachers; and students Crisanto Reambonanza, Samina Samadul, Nadia Muslimin, Alih Sahirin, Jamal Abdulwasid, Dania Misal, and Dania and Dana Medial.
The military had earlier halted rescue operations against the Abu Sayyaf to start civilian negotiations for the safe release of the hostages still being held by the extremist group in Sumisip town, a senior military officer said.
"We halted rescue operations to allow peaceful negotiations," said Abaya.
The group had threatened to kill the hostages after 11 relatives of Janjalani were kidnapped Friday by an unidentified group in an apparent retaliatory kidnapping.
Asmad Salayudin, spokesman for the "Al-Harakatul Islamia" Abu Sayyaf group, said they were still holding more than 30 hostages, including Claret school administrator and director Fr. Roel Gallardo and school principal Reynaldo Rubio.
National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre is in Basilan to personally coordinate the various negotiating efforts by local officials, religious leaders and non-government organizations.
Salayudin said they would only divulge their actual demands during negotiations with Salapuddin, and that they could possibly release some of the hostages to movie actor Robin Padilla, who has converted to Islam.
"We might release some of the hostages to Robin Padilla if he joins the negotiations," the Abu Sayyaf spokesman said earlier.
The extremist group had earlier hinted that they were seeking the ouster of provincial police director Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan and Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar.
The Abu Sayyaf initially blamed Akbar for the seizure of their relatives and threatened to kill the hostages unless the relatives were freed. The governor denied involvement.
In a related development, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the government is investigating the reported kidnapping of Janjalani's wife and mother.
Mercado pointed out that there is currently no evidence that would show Gov. Akbar was involved in the abduction of the Janjalani family members.
53 hostages
March 28, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Negotiator quits; fate of Abu Sayyaf hostages in jeopardy,
The rebels seized 53 students, teachers and a Catholic priest
Basilan Rep. Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, who negotiated the release of 18 of 53 hostages taken last week,
33 hostages
April 10, 2000, The Philippine Star, Vigilantes threaten to rescue Sayyaf hostages, by Roel Pareño,
....reneged on its promise to swap 15 of its 33 hostages with the wife and daughter of its leader Khadafy Janjalani....
April 19, 2000, Associated Press / Christian Science Monitor, Philippines' rebel threats escalate,
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Four years after a peace treaty raised hopes of an end to the Philippines' decades-old Muslim secessionist rebellion, peace in the country's impoverished southern Mindanao region appears increasingly elusive.
In a southern Philippine province, a Muslim rebel group is threatening to execute Americans unless the United States releases convicted terrorists, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The group also says it will release 29 Filipino hostages it holds - but only if all Christian residents of the province are forbidden from displaying crosses in public.
The number of casualties and evacuees in the past month's fighting in Lanao del Norte province rate on the scale of a major disaster, surpassing even the 68,000 people who were forced to flee from the eruption of Mayon volcano in February.
The clashes are the most serious since the government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) began talks in 1997.
Over the years, the insurgency has killed more than 120,000 people and stunted the economy in Mindanao, one of the country's most resource-rich regions and home to its Muslim minority.
Hopes for peace rose in 1996, when the Moro National Liberation Front, the largest Muslim rebel group, signed a peace treaty in which it accepted autonomy, not independence. But the compromise was rejected by the MILF, a breakaway faction that wants to establish an independent Islamic state.
President Joseph Estrada has rejected any kind of Muslim independence, saying a dismemberment of the country is unacceptable.
The recent clashes flared last month when MILF guerrillas attacked Army outposts in several Lanao del Norte towns. As the military fought the MILF in Lanao del Norte, a smaller but more radical Muslim rebel group, the Abu Sayyaf, seized more than 50 hostages, including a Roman Catholic priest and several children.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels were still holding 29 hostages on April 14. Then on April 17 they threatened to kidnap or kill Americans in the Philippines if the US rejects their demand for the jailed terrorists, who include Ramzi Yousef, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people, and Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.
The US yesterday rejected the Muslim rebels' demands and vowed to protect Americans whom the guerrillas had threatened to kidnap or kill.
29 hostages
April 19, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Rebuffed, Sayyaf to Behead 2 Male Hostages Today ,
Zamboanga City, April 19, 2000 - Muslim rebels belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group announced on radio yesterday they would decapitate two male hostages this afternoon as a "birthday gift" to President Estrada for rejecting their demand for the release of three Arab terrorists jailed in the United States. The group is still holding 29 hostages, mostly school children, on Basilan Island.
"We will execute two male hostages at 3 p.m. (today) as a birthday gift to President Joseph Estrada," said Abu Ahmad, spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf. "If Malacañang wants to order a military operation, then we will wait. We will start killing the hostages.”
Yesterday, the US issued a statement rejecting the Abu Sayyaf's demand to free the three jailed militants, and vowed to protect Americans in the Philippines whom the terrorists are threatening to kidnap or kill.
"The United States does not concede to threats or demands made by terrorists," the US Embassy in Manila said in a statement. "We have seen reports of this terrorist group's demands and take all threats against American citizens seriously."
The US Embassy also advised Americans to avoid traveling to Basilan and to exercise caution.
The Abu Sayyaf vowed to kill or kidnap Americans in the country Monday President Estrada dismissed their demands and threatened to send in the Armed Forces.
Around 100,000 Americans are in the country, with an undetermined number of them living in Mindanao and the Visayas.
The 29 remaining hostages are believed to include 22 children, several teachers, and a Catholic priest. They were among more than 50 people abducted last March 20 but the others have since been freed.
National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre told reporters yesterday the government's policy was first to exhaust all peaceful means to secure the hostage's release.
"Of course, we have prepared and considered other options...That is already a last resort," he said.
Aguirre challenged the Abu Sayyaf to stop involving innocent women and children in their terrorist activities.
"If they want to fight the government, we have the military and the police to fight against, but let us not harm civilians," he said.
Philippine National Police Chief Panfilo Lacson said the terrorists' threat was a ploy to gain international attention and to secure financial support from other terrorists like Osama bin Laden.
Lacson said the police was ready to provide security assistance to all foreigners in Mindanao following the Abu Sayyaf's threat to kill Americans in the country.
"It is standard operating procedure for us," he said. "We are mandated to protect the lives of everybody in the country whether there is a threat or not."
In General Santos City, Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Daisy Avance-Fuentes said the latest developments were slowly showing the Abu Sayyaf's "true color" that they are nothing but criminals.
"They have been acting like criminals," she said. "I think the government should seriously consider another approach to this problem."
Fuentes said the government was not inclined to make a compromise in dealing with the terrorists and that it was unfortunate that they were still holding 29 hostages.
"They should not expect any money from the government, (which is) of course the money of the people," she said. "There is no room for any compromise for the Abu Sayyaf as far as I am concerned."
April 24, 2000, Associated Press / Los Angeles Times, Philippine Forces Attack Muslim Rebels,
Hostages: Military uses planes and artillery in an attempt to free 27 hostages held in a mountain base. Rebels have already beheaded 2 hostages.
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Philippine forces advanced on the mountain base of Muslim rebels Sunday, hammering their defenses with airstrikes and artillery in an attempt to free 27 hostages.
The top general vowed to push ahead with the offensive against Abu Sayyaf rebels on southern Basilan Island, despite rebel threats to kill more hostages after beheading two last week.
The rebels killed those two after authorities refused their demands for the release of Muslim militants jailed in the United States, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
At least three soldiers were killed in Sunday's fighting, officials said. Nine teenage rebels were killed as they tried to escape bombardment of their camp on the slopes of the mountains leading up to the main camp, Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar said.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad denied that any rebels had died. He said two hostages, including a child, were injured in the shelling. Military officials said they could not confirm the report but have denied targeting the main camp, where the hostages are thought to be held.
Air force helicopters fired rockets at outlying rebel camps to allow ground troops to advance toward the main camp, said Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the military's Southern Command.
Navy ships also have been deployed to prevent the rebels from escaping or receiving reinforcements from comrades in nearby provinces.
About 500 government troops were fighting an estimated 230-250 rebels in the rescue attempt in Basilan, an island province about 550 miles south of Manila, military officials said.
"I feel it's about time we stop talking with these fanatics," Villanueva told the Associated Press. Otherwise, "they will just kill the hostages one by one," he said.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller but more radical of two Muslim groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. It has been blamed for numerous attacks on Christians, including the abduction of foreign missionaries.
The U.S. State Department has included the Abu Sayyaf in a list of 28 foreign groups that threaten Americans at home or abroad.
On Saturday, the rebels warned that they will behead five men they are holding, including a priest, if the military does not halt attempts to rescue the 27 hostages, among whom are many children and teachers, abducted from schools March 20.
Nonetheless, military chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said the assault will continue until the hostages are rescued and the rebels eliminated.
A provincial crisis-management committee that had been negotiating with the rebels made the decision to attack the camp after the Abu Sayyaf announced the killing of two hostages Wednesday.
The Abu Sayyaf has demanded the release of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.
The demands were rejected by the Philippine government and by the U.S. Embassy.
The rebels originally seized more than 50 people, including many children from two schools in Basilan, on March 20 for use as human shields after attacking an army outpost. Some of the hostages have since been freed.
In retaliation for the abduction, a group of vigilantes seized 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. They are still holding nine relatives after freeing Janjalani's pregnant wife and a daughter.
27 hostages
April 24, 2000, The New Straits Times, page 22, Christian cult beheads separatist, says report
Zamboanga, Sun.---Members of an armed Christian cult beheaded a separatist rebel today in the southern Philippine provinve of Basilan where his comrades are holding 27 hostages, a report said.
Radio station DXRZ said Murijidin Salih, a member of the Abu Sayyaf group was snatched near his home in a remote village in the capital town of Isabela early today by the Christian armed cult Sagrado Corazon de Jesus.
He was later beheaded by the Christian cult, his decapitated body left in the area. DXRZ said here citing police reports.
Police also recovered an M-16 automatic rifle and a pistol near the body, the radio station said.
The military's southern command here said they had received a report of the beheading, ading they were checking its veracity.
The Sagrado cult operates from a Zamboanga and its members are known to believe in mulets to protect them from encounters.
Last week, the group said it would launch an independent operation to rescue the 27 hostages, who were among more than 50 students, teachers and a Catholic priest snatched by the Abu Sayyaf last month. ---AFP
27 hostages
April 24, 2000, New Straits Times, Nine rebels killed in clashes, Troops pound Abu Sayyaf camp to rescue hostages,
28 hostages
April 25, 2000, Inquirer, AFP: We'll finish rescue on Wednesday, by Julie Alipala-Inot, PDI Mindanao Bureau, and Carlito Pablo,
27 hostages
May 3, 2000, Associated Press, Four hostages reported killed as troops, rebels clash in Philippines, by Jim Gomez,
JOLO, Philippines -- Four hostages were killed today when government troops stumbled upon Muslim rebels trying to cross a stream with their captives in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, officials said.
Troops screamed at the hostages to get down, then opened fire. Fifteen other hostages of the original 27 were rescued. Military sources said still others were taken by the fleeing guerrillas.
Meanwhile, on neighboring Jolo island, rebel leaders who are holding a separate group of 21 hostages said two of their foreign captives died during a pre-dawn clash with troops. But military officials said they had no knowledge that any of the hostages -- who include 10 foreign tourists -- had been killed. They said the claim may have been propaganda by the extremist Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The two clashes came during a chaotic day of fighting and fatal bombings in the southern Philippines. They were the latest development in a standoff that began in March and intensified 10 days ago with the seizure of hostages from a Malaysian resort. The day ended with murky casualty reports and efforts by officials to sort out exactly what happened.
In Basilan, a priest who saw the four bodies at a funeral home later in the day said they had been shot at close range. Two of the bodies had been mutilated, the Rev. Martin Jumoad said. It was unclear who shot them.
Five of the 15 rescued hostages were wounded, one seriously, military officials said. They were taken by helicopter to a military hospital.
The 27 Basilan hostages, who included 22 children, were among about 50 seized by Abu Sayyaf rebels on March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later released some captives, but they claimed two weeks ago to have beheaded two others, triggering a military assault on their stronghold. They had offered today to release all their hostages if the military halted its pursuit.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of two groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the Philippines' impoverished Mindanao region, home of the country's Muslim minority.
Today's clash on Jolo, meanwhile, apparently occurred when the 21 hostages there were being transferred to another location, officials said. Troops seized the bamboo hut where the hostages had been held, but found no one inside. No bloodstains were evident inside the hut, and medicines brought by a doctor on Monday were left behind, police said.
Commander Robot, an Abu Sayyaf leader, claimed in a telephone interview with the local ABS-CBN radio network that one hostage was accidentally shot in fighting with Philippine troops and another died of a heart attack. He apologized to their families and said it was not the rebels' doing.
the 27 Filipino hostages taken on March 20 -
May 4, 2000, Reuters / The Guardian, Philippine rebels split up hostages, by Erik de Castro in Jolo,
20.54 EDT,
Islamic rebels have split their 21 mainly foreign hostages into five groups and each group is trying to break through a cordon of troops around their jungle hideout, leading to sporadic gun battles, Philippine officials said yesterday.
Orlando Mercado, the defence secretary, said that all the hostages kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf (Father of the Sword) group from a Malaysian holiday resort on Easter Sunday were alive but still captive, discounting radio reports that two may have escaped or that some may have died in fighting around the rebel base on Jolo island, 600 miles south of Manila.
In a separate drama, another Abu Sayyaf unit sprayed gunfire on a group of Filipino hostages, including a priest, after tying their hands behind their backs when troops closed in on them on Wednesday, officials said.
Four of the 27 Filipino hostages taken on March 20 - schoolchildren, their teachers and the priest - were killed on Basilan island, near Jolo. Fifteen hostages were freed by the military, although five, including three children, were wounded. Eight hostages were unaccounted for.
"They sprayed them with gunfire before [the other hostages] started running," the army's commander in the south, Diomedio Villanueva, said, adding that many of the victims were bound before being killed. Police said the victims were also attacked with scythes.
We will not be satisfied until those devils, the Abu Sayyaf, are killed," Leoncia Democrito, the pregnant wife of one of those killed, said as she wept over his coffin.
Colleagues of Father Ruel Gallardo said that the 34-year-old priest had his nails pulled out and suffered daily beatings during his captivity. The Pope expressed his sorrow at the priest's death yesterday.
Meanwhile the government's chief negotiator, Nur Misuari, was meeting his staff to discuss a resumption of contacts with the rebels to free the Jolo hostages. Informal talks were disrupted on Wednesday after fighting erupted between the rebels and troops. Radio reports said nine guerrillas died in the clash, but the rebels said they lost one dead.
"The incidents are a consequence of [the rebel groups and captives] being broken up into five groups," Mr Mercado said. "There was also an attempt to probe and get people out, but they found that the cordon is tight and we have reinforced the cordon."
Some 2,000 troops are spread around the hills of Jolo to cut off rebel escape routes.
The Jolo hostages are 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese and a Filipina.
Germany yesterday added to growing pressure on Manila to end the crisis without bloodshed. The chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, said in Berlin that he had urged the Philippines president, Joseph Estrada, to put the lives of the hostages above any other aim. France has made similar pleas.
Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the mainly Catholic Philippines. The larger rebel group is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf).
On the main Mindanao island, where the Milf also unleashed a wave of violence on Wednesday, there was only sporadic fighting yesterday.
Military and radio reports said 35 people died on Wednesday when the Milf clashed with soldiers in five places, launched grenades at an airport and exploded bombs in a seaport town. It took about 100 hostages during the fighting, but withdrew overnight, leaving its hostages behind.
The violence racking the southern Philippines is the worst since another separatist group agreed to a peace deal with Manila in 1996.
Mindanao is home to most of the 5m Muslims in the country's 74m population.
Reuters
27 hostages
May 4, 2000, The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH), Rebels Execute Priest Gunfire Erupts During Rescue,
27 hostages
May 4, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Bin Laden sighted in Mindanao on March 18 - report,
* Members of an armed Christian cult called Sagrado Corazon Seor this week beheaded a member of Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, where his comrades claimed to have beheaded two hostages and are holding 27 others. The victim, Murijidin Salih, 24, who police said was wanted for murder cases, was snatched near his home in Basilan's capital town of Isabela by about 30 armed members of Sagrado Corazon. The cult said last week it would launch an independent operation to rescue the 27 hostages seized in March.
May 4, 2000, New York Times, Four Hostages Found Slain in the Philippines,
ISABELA, Philippines, May 3— Four hostages were found dead today shot execution-style and some mutilated -- after Muslim rebels holding 27 captives stumbled across Philippine troops by a river crossing and both sides opened fire.
The dead were identified as a priest, a male teacher and two female teachers. Most of the hostages were children who had been seized from a school. Fifteen children and their teachers were rescued after the gunfight in Basilan Province, but military officials said others were taken away by the fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels.
Also today, rebel leaders holding a separate group of 21 hostages on neighboring Jolo Island said two of their foreign captives died during a clash with troops. But military officials said they had no knowledge that any of the hostages -- who include 10 foreign tourists -- were dead.
The two clashes came during a chaotic day of attacks in the southern Philippines. As the hostage standoffs degenerated into gunfights, the region's other major rebel group claimed responsibility for a series of bombings that left at least four dead and dozens wounded in several towns. It was the worst recent outbreak of violence linked to the rebel groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the Philippines' impoverished Mindanao region, home of the country's Muslim minority.
In Basilan today, soldiers chanced upon the rebels at a river crossing and screamed to the hostages, ''Drop to the ground and don't run away,'' according to one of the rescued children, Regardo Gregorio. He said they dropped down and the soldiers and rebels began firing.There was no official word on who killed the four hostages. But there were indications that their captors were responsible. A priest who saw the bodies, the Rev. Martin Jumoad, said they had been shot in the head at close range. Several, including the female teachers, had apparently been hacked on their bodies and arms, he said.
Five of the rescued hostages were injured, one seriously. They were taken by helicopter to a military hospital.
The 27 Basilan hostages, mostly children, were among about 50 people seized by the rebels on March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later released some captives, but they said they beheaded two male teachers two weeks ago.
That claim led the military to launch an offensive against the rebel stronghold. Troops overran the area in fierce fighting over the weekend but failed to find any of the captives.
The rescued hostages said they had been taken from the camp on Saturday and forced to walk each night through forest trails.
Today's clash on Jolo apparently occurred when the separate group of 21 hostages there were being transferred to another location, officials said.
Troops seized the hut where the hostages had been held, but found no one inside.
Map of the Philippines highlighting Basilan: On Basilan, some were slain, some rescued, and others taken away.
27 hostages
May 5, 2000, AP / The Gainesville Sun World, Hostages say rebels beat, tortured them; Fifteen of 27 were rescued in a shootout in the Philippines,
ISABELA, Philippines---The 27 children and teachers spent six weeks as hostages in half-buried windowless rooms on a mountaintop before 15 were rescued in a hail of bullets.
"We were treated like pigs," said Renaldo Rubio. a teacher.
He and other former hostages spoke a day after Philippine troops stumbled upon the rebels and captives at a river crossing and managed to free nine children ande six teachers. The rebels fled with the remaining captives.
The rebels announced two weeks ago that they beheaded two male teachers because the government had rejected their demands, prompting the military attack on their stronghold. Some of the hostages said they were never informed.
"They told us the two teachers were sent home," said 14-year-old Charie Vergara. "They never said anything about beheading."
When they were spotted Wednesday by the military less than three miles from Isabela, Basilan's capitol, the children were walking in front, followed by the adult hostages with rebels in the rear. The guerrillas began firing directly into the backs of the adults, killing four, the survivors said.
Relatives cried Thursday at the wake for the Basilan victims at Isabela's cathedral.
28 captives
May 5, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu tortured, shot victims in the back, by Julie S. Alipala-Inot,
Priest's nails pulled out; teacher's breasts lopped off
ISABELA, Basilan--"What have they done to my daughter?" Josefina Arcillas, 79, nearly collapsed after seeing the body of her daughter Editha Lumame, 57, with multiple stitches where her breasts should have been. "She was just a plain teacher whose life was religiously dedicated to teaching. Then suddenly here comes this barbaric group who is only good in maiming hapless women," Arcillas cried, joining shocked mourners who yesterday viewed the tragic outcome of the hostage crisis here.
Weeping and trembling, the relatives of four dead hostages bent over the coffins of their loved ones at the Sta. Isabela Cathedral yesterday. "We will not be satisfied until those devils, the Abu Sayyaf, are killed," said Leoncia Democrito, the pregnant widow of victim Ruben Democrito. "I hope you can help my children, they are still very small," she cried, as she looked away from the casket holding her husband.
Lumame and Democrito's bodies were found Wednesday by military troops at the site of a gunbattle with Abu Sayyaf kidnappers. Lumame's breasts had been hacked off and her body bore multiple gunshot wounds. Two other bodies, those of Claretian priest Rhoel Gallardo and teacher Annabelle Mendoza, were also found sprawled in a pool of blood in Barangay Kumalarang in Lantawan town.
Gallardo suffered three gunshot wounds in his head, shoulder and back, and the nails on his index fingers and on his toes had been pulled out, said Fr. Edgar Rivero, a diocesan priest. "He was tortured first before they killed him. Experts (investigators and forensic doctors) told me that the nails were removed two to three days before he was shot at close range," Rivero said.
He said the body of the priest had been found with his hands tied with hemp rope. He said the hands of Democrito had also been tied. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Angelo Reyes said Gallardo's hands had been tied, but Malacañang said he had been killed in handcuffs. Police said the four victims were shot at and hacked with scythes when the patrol party encountered the rebels and the captives on Wednesday.
Rivero said the town's people were in a state of shock. Col. Ramon Pedro Sinajon, 5th Infantry Brigade commander, said Gallardo's skull and the upper left parietal lobe of his brain were shattered. "Brain was scattered (sic) when we airlifted the (bodies) from Lantawan to Isabela town yesterday," he said.
There was no official word on who killed the four hostages, but there were indications that their captors were responsible. A priest who saw the bodies said they had been shot at close range in the head. Several, including the female teachers, had apparently been hacked on their bodies and arms, the Rev. Martin Jumoad said.
Wilder, bolder
All the dead were shot from behind, Reyes said. "It only shows that the Abu Sayyaf Group here is becoming wilder and bolder," said Fr. Angel Calvo, a foreign Claretian missionary. This was the first time in the history of Basilan that a priest had been killed after being kidnapped, said Fr. Nestor Banga, a Claretian who assumed the position vacated by the late Gallardo.
Banga said that most of the priests or nuns who were previously kidnapped in Basilan, "were later freed. They might have been hurt, physically or emotionally, but not brutally slain." The death of Gallardo, Rivero said, would not serve as deterrent to other priests who would like to serve in Basilan. "We will continue to be here and we will continue to spread the word of God," he said.
Cross to carry
A despairing Basilan bishop Romulo de la Cruz called for justice. "It is a cross we have to carry," he said as he comforted the immediate families and relatives of the dead. De la Cruz lamented that Christians were "always bearing the brunt" of atrocities by Muslim guerrillas.
"What is good about this is that the good Muslims have banded together against the Abu Sayyaf," he said. De la Cruz described Gallardo as one of the bravest priests in the diocese.
"A few days ago we heard Fr. Gallardo over the radio appealing to the authorities to stop the military operations, saying that they would die from fear and not bullets, but we knew that was not the real Gallardo," the bishop said in Taglish.
"When we received his body yesterday, we knew that he did not die from fear. He died because of the bullets of the Abu Sayyaf," he said, his voice echoing inside the cathedral while hundreds of Basilanos listened intently to the homily.
Last embrace
According to Arcillas, her daughter Editha has been working as a schoolteacher in Tuburan for more than 30 years. The mother remembered the last time she saw her daughter alive. "We slept together before she left our house in Pasonanca. She even gave me P100 to buy snacks. We embraced before she left. I even requested her to stay behind, but she insisted on leaving because they were preparing for the graduation," Arcillas said.
"I hope they (the rebels) will pay for this crime...Innocent children were taken and kept hostage for (44) days," said De la Cruz. "We hope the military continues running after the Abu Sayyaf so that what we call this Abu Sayyaf menace in Basilan will be over," he said.
In hospital
The four victims were slaughtered when the military launched a rescue operation for the group of 28 captives in Camp Abdurazzak where they had been kept for more than 40 days. Troops stumbled upon the rebels by a river crossing Wednesday and both sides opened fire.
Nine children and six teachers were rescued, according to the military. Many of the hostages were children seized from two schools in Basilan province 44 days earlier. There was no immediate word on the fate of the other 10 hostages, mostly children.
Five of the rescued hostages were injured, one seriously. They were taken by helicopter to a military hospital on Wednesday night for treatment. There were no immediate details of rebel or military casualties. Three of the injured have now been operated on. "We cannot promise they are safe at the moment but...we are still observing their condition," said Dr. Felix Tayo.
'Drop!'
Marissa Ante, a 23-year-old teacher rescued in the military operation, said the military had staged a lightning raid on about 60 black-clad Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were scrambling with the hostages. "The military arrived and shouted 'drop' and we all pounced on the ground and then gunfire ensued," she said. "Most of us crawled to the military side."
"I saw at least one Abu Sayyaf gunman hit by gunfire," she said. The Basilan hostages were among 53 people seized by the rebels on March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later released some captives, but they claimed to have beheaded two teachers, Democrito and Reynaldo Rubio, two weeks ago--a claim proven false when Democrito was found dead and Rubio was rescued. The rescued hostages said they had been taken from Camp Abdurrazak in Sumisip, Basilan, on Saturday and forced to walk each night through forest trails.
Walking in circles
Ante said that before the rescue on Tuesday, the hostages were "taken around in circles" in thick jungles for four days by the gunmen after their camp came under attack from the military. Most of the hostages were bruised and had cuts on their feet.
"When we left the camp there were already explosions around it," said Criselda Selvano, a sixth grader. "They moved us from place to place during the night. Sometimes we slept under the trees, and when it rained we got wet."
'I'm free'
Marissa Rante said the captives only ate one meal a day in the rebel camp and conditions had been tough. She was overjoyed with her first day of freedom. Hostages said Wednesday's shootings took place when the rebels were moving their captives. Rante said the group was taking them to nearby Jolo Island, where the guerrillas are also holding 21 mostly foreign hostages. This has not been confirmed.
"The day we were supposed to go to Jolo, we stayed for a while at...Isabela town, that's where the clash happened at 3 o'clock yesterday," she said. "Many people were wounded, I don't know how I escaped, we dropped to the ground," Rante added. "I am happy. I am happy that I am free." With reports from Inquirer wires
May 6, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Pope appeals to Abu Sayyaf to release all their hostages,
Requiem mass for slain priest this afternoon VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul expressed deep concern on Thursday over violence in the Philippines involving Muslim rebels and urged them to release all hostages they are holding.
"I appeal to all involved in the conflict in the region to renounce the ways of violence which have caused so much suffering to the civilian population and to return to peaceful negotiation in order to achieve a just solution respectful of the rights of all," the Pope said.
The 79-year-old Pope, who has visited Asia's largest Catholic country twice, made his appeal in a telegram to the head of the Philippines' Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"My thoughts also turn to the injured and the remaining hostages and I ask their captors to release them as soon as possible," the Pope said.
The Pontiff said he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in the southern Philippines and "greatly saddened" by news of the killing of various hostages.
He mentioned the death of Fr. Ruel Gallardo, a Roman Catholic priest killed in a clash between Muslim rebels and government troops on the island of Basilan earlier this week.
The Abu Sayyaf (Father of the Sword) rebels are still holding 21 mainly foreign hostages on another island, Jolo.
The Jolo hostages are 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese, and a Filipina.
The Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the Philippines. The larger group is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Peace
ZAMBOANGA CITY --"The blood of martyrdom cries for peace and reconciliation, not hatred and revenge."
This was the sentiment expressed by Claretian priest and Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) Chairman Fr. Angel Calvo over the execution of fellow missionary Fr. Roel Gallardo last Wednesday by Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Isabela, Basilan province.
Although several priests have been kidnapped in Basilan in the past years, Fr. Gallardo was the first to be killed by extremists, and he was tortured along with other kidnap victims. The Claretians, Fr. Calvo said, have been serving in Basilan since 1951.
Fr. Gallardo's remains will arrive from Isabela, Basilan, this morning and will lie at the Claret Formation Center on Ruste Drive, San Jose St.
Fr. Calvo urged Christians and Muslims to attend a requiem mass and religious service for the dead priest at 3 p.m. today, Saturday, at the Claret Parish Church.
"I invite people of goodwill to come and pay their last respects to Fr. Gallardo, and pray together for peace and reconciliation in Basilan and in Mindanao," he said.
An all-night vigil will follow the mass. Fr, Gallardo's remains will be flown to Manila the following day. He will be buried at the Claretian community cemetery in Quezon City after a visit to his hometown in Zambales..
Fr. Gallardo, 34 , was ordained in Manila in 1996.
He had been serving as parish priest and director of the Tumahunong Parish High School since June, 1999, an assignment he volunteered fordespite the fact that the area was declared dangerous after the school's building was burned by rebels last year.
Before Tumahbong, he served in Surabay and Tungawan towns in Zamboanga del Sur and Bunguiao, this city.
"He was a quiet, humble and very prayerful," Fr. Calvo described Fr. Gallardo. "He was at peace with himself."
Only God can take away human life, which is sacred to Christians, Fr. Calvo said. "Anything done against a man's life, especially torture, is evil and must be deplored and condemned," he added.
Calvo said that in Christian tradition, martyrdom is a challenge to the faithful and an encouragement to the Church to pursue the cause for which the blood was shed.
Fr. Gallardo's death, he said, should encourage people of goodwill to serve peace and justice to "grow in life, not in hatred and revenge." (Vic P. Arevalo)
Pimentel
Senator Aquilino 'Nene' Pimentel, a native of Mindanao, asked President Estrada yesterday to mount a "full-scale war to exterminate the Abu Sayyaf rebel group to attain "permanent peace and progress in the South.
He also called for a federal system, the more effectively to hasten development "not only inMindanao but elsewhere in the republic."
"Mindanao is bleeding," lamented Pimentel at the "Friday Balitaan" forum at the Rembrandt Hotel in Quezon City. "The bloodletting must be stopped, and no less than President Estrada must assert a wise, assertive step to stop the blood bath."
Pimentel asked Mr. Estrada to "heed the call for a ceasefire in Mindanao after a real government victory over the Abu Sayyaf and other rebellious groups as a precondition to peace and progress.
No ransom
PRETORIA (AFP) - The South African government will oppose the payment of a ransom for the release of 21 hostages, including two South Africans, being held by Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines, a senior official said Thursday.
Jerry Matsila, the deputy director general of foreign affairs, also reiterated government concerns that force should not be used to free the hostages.
Matsila told reporters in Pretoria that the government was "principally opposed to ransom payments."
"If the captors were paid the 18 million rand ransom they are rumored to be demanding, it will only encourage others to do the same," he said.
Task force
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Diplomats from France, Finland, and Germany will set up a joint task force to help the Manila government free a group of tourists held hostage by Islamic rebels in the Philippines, officials said on Thursday.
Two Finnish, two French, and three German citizens are among the 21 hostages seized by guerrillas on April 23 at a Malaysian resort and taken to the southern Philippines. The others are 10 Malaysians, two South Africans, a Lebanese, and a Filipina.
The diplomatic initiative came amid reports that the rebels had split the hostages into small groups and were trying to break through a cordon of troops around their jungle hideout.
"Finland, France, and Germany have decided to establish a joint task force to assist the Philippine government in their efforts to resolve the hostage crisis," Finland's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Finland's special envoy Holger Rotkirch arrived in Manila earlier on Thursday and was scheduled to meet his French and German counterparts to discuss the task force, the ministry said.
A letter from the foreign ministers of the European countries was delivered to Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon emphasizing the importance of finding a peaceful solution to the crisis and offering the help of additional mediators.
Finland said it would also appeal to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) for assistance in resolving the crisis.
28 hostages
May 6, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 'They fed us twice only when Robin came,' by Julie Alipala-Inot, PDI Mindanao Bureau,
[Excerpts] ISABELA, Basilan
Romela Mendoza, one of the 15 hostages who were rescued.
Ricardo Gregorio, 15
Claretian schoolteacher Marissa Rante
Government troops on Wednesday rescued 15 of 28 hostages the Abu Sayyaf had been holding since March 20 in Basilan.
Survivors said the rebels executed Gallardo and three other hostages, teachers Ruben Democrito, Editha Lumome and Annabelle Mendoza..
Captors earlier had beaten and tortured the Roman Catholic priest, including pulling out his toenails, the freed hostages said.
According to the crisis management committee in Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf originally took 31 hostages on March 20. The confirmed killing of four left a total of 27 hostages.
Of the 27 left, 16 were rescued Wednesday: school principal Reynaldo Rubio, teachers Marissa Rante, Rosebert Ajon, Lydda Ajon, Rodolfo Irong, students Joan Barnido, Emelyn Cachuela, Chritiney Diva, Jennely Emo, Maria Christina Francisco, Ricardo Gregorio, Romela Mendoza, Crise;da Silvanp, Chary Vergara, Christine Vergara and Geraldine Melo.
Eleven are still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf: teachers Teresita Academia, Nelson Enriquez, Erlinda Manuel, Dante Uban, students Joselle de la Torre, Ryan Laputan, Billy James Lariosa, Ian Rey Lucip, Jul Padrique, Rey Lios Pai and Faye de la Torre.
Fr. Edgar Rivero, who replaced Gallardo as aprish priest of Tumahubong, said he did not know who painted the red crosses. "But they surely speak of the silent protest against the atrocities inflicted on the Christian community here," he said.
Basilan Bishop Romulo de la Cruz
"My brother's blood has been wasted, so the government should not stop its operations," said SPO4 Rodolfo Democrito, elder brother of slain hostage teacher Ruben Democrito.
"We need justice for my (elder) sister (nnabelle Mendoza)." said Ernesto Mendoza.
Mendoza's other sister, Romela, was among those rescued.
Richard Lumome, son of slain teacher Editha Lumome,
May 7, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Town Mourns Slain Priest
CASTILLEJOS, Philippines (AP) -- Hundreds of people lined the main road of the farming town of Castillejos on Sunday, tossing flowers at a hearse carrying the remains of a Roman Catholic priest taken hostage and then killed by Muslim rebels.
Mourners tied purple and black ribbons on trees and lamp posts along the road to the town church and hung up banners reading, "Justice for Father Rhoel Gallardo." They waited for as long as four hours for a 50-vehicle caravan carrying Gallardo's casket.
At the church, elderly women wept openly as they viewed Gallardo's body. Mourners formed a line 500 yards long on both sides of the casket.
Gallardo was among about 50 people, mostly schoolchildren, seized in Basilan province in March by separatist Abu Sayyaf rebels trying to escape from an army attack. The rebels released some hostages, but held Gallardo and 26 others for more than six weeks.
Then, on Wednesday, soldiers ran across the rebels trying to flee with their captives. The two groups got into a firefight at a river crossing in the town of Lantawan.
Fifteen of the hostages were rescued, but Gallardo and three teachers were killed -- all shot in the head at close range, apparently by the rebels. Basilan residents, particularly the Catholic community, were outraged by the killings.
Gallardo, 34, was regularly beaten while in captivity, other hostages said. The rebels made him wear dark glasses to cover a black eye when he was presented to a group of visiting journalists. An examination of his body showed that some of his toenails had been pulled out.
In Castillejos, Gallardo's father, Dominador, appealed to President Joseph Estrada not to stop the military operation to rescue the remaining hostages and another group of 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists, seized from a Malaysian resort April 23.
Gallardo belonged to the Claretian order. In Los Angeles, the Rev. Art Gramaje, a fellow Claretian who lived in the same religious community in Manila with Gallardo in 1992, described the Filipino priest as a quiet, unassuming man.
"He had a good heart," Gramaje said. "He was just a regular guy wanting to serve the people."
Gallardo has been called a martyr, but "he wasn't looking for anything like that," Gramaje said. "He was a victim of a great evil."
After the viewing, Gallardo's body was moved to his family's residence in a half-mile-long procession. His remains are to be transferred to the Claretian mission house in Quezon City, a Manila suburb, on Tuesday.
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
nine plus 15 plus the four dead makes for 28May 7, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Siazon assures European envoys.
[Excerpt:]
Basilan hostages
Basilan Bishop Ramon de la Cruz expressed concern over the fate of the nine hostages who were captured by the extremist rebels Abu Sayyaf in Basilan last March 20.
"We hope and pray they are still alive," De la Cruz said in a message sent to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), following the killing of a Claretian priest and three other hostages by the Abu Sayyaf.
"We continue to wait for the seven children and two female teachers who are still unaccounted for," he added.
Bishop De la Cruz condemned the torture and killing of Fr. Roel Gallardo and three female teachers by the Abu Sayyaf captors as they fled an assault by government troops.
"The medico-legal investigation uncovered that Fr. Roel was tortured two weeks before, when the nails of his big toes were forcefully removed as a disciplinary act by the Abu Sayyaf," he said.
The children and other hostages narrated that they heard the cries of Gallardo, who showed signs of suffering from his ordeal. Children were treated well but the male hostages received beatings from the Abu Sayyaf.
"He was punched to his face because he had asked where they had taken Marissa Rante, a Claret teacher," the bishop said.
The remains of Gallardo were brought to the Sta. Isabel Cathedral in Isabela, Basilan, where they have been lying since May 3. They will be brought to his hometown in Castillejos, Zambales, today for a wake at the family residence.
On Tuesday, his body will be brought to the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Teachers Village, Diliman, Quezon City, for a funeral mass at 6 a.m. The burial has been set for May 10 at the Himlayang Pilipino after an 8:30 a.m. mass.
Gallardo, 34, was a parish priest of the San Vicente Ferrer parish in Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan. He was also a director of the Claret School of Tumahubong, from which the Abu Sayyaf seized the teachers and school children last March 20. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
May 11, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Gov't frees 15 hostages: Priest, 3 others killed in clash,
Catholic priest Father Roel Gallardo was killed, along with three other hostages, in an encounter between their Abu Sayyaf Group captors and government troops that flushed the rebels out of a school building in Tumahubong, Basilan, Malacaang reported Thursday.
"This is a deplorable act," Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr. said during an emergency press briefing called at 9:15 p.m. at the Kalayaan Hall, adding that the identities of the three other fatalities were still unknown.
Puno said the confirmation that Fr. Gallardo's body had been found at the scene of the battle at Claret School in Tumahubong was received by Malacaang at 9:03 p.m.
He added that a total of 15 of the 27 hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf had been freed and are now in the custody of government authorities.
Five of the 15 rescued were wounded in the crossfire and were identified as Robert Ahon, Christy Vergara, Jennifer Imo, Lydia Ahon, and Emelyn Catchuela. They are now being treated at local hospitals.
"Ten are still out there and we hope that they (Abu Sayyaf) will treat them fairly. These are innocent civilians," Puno said.
The 10 other freed hostages were Rodolfo Iran, Maria Christina Francisco, Reynaldo Rubio, Joan Bernardo, Rowena Mendoza, Kristen Diva, Charry Vergara, Criselda Selvana, Ricardo Gregorio, and Marasi Saute.
They are now in the custody of government authorities.
15 rescued
Officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced that they have rescued 15 of the 29 civilians in Lantawan, Basilan, who were held hostage by members of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the nearby Sumisip town, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City said.
In a report to AFP chief of staff Gen. Angelo T. Reyes, Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, Southern Command (Southcom) chief based in Zamboanga City, said that as of 7:30 p.m., 15 hostages had been rescued by elements of the 1st Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Narciso Abaya in a remote barangay in Lantawan town.
With the 15, however, were the bodies of four persons, believed to be among the hostages held captive in Sumisip, Basilan, by the Abu Sayyaf.
Villanueva assured that the military will continue combing the hinterlands of Lantawan town in search of the remaining hostages.
Immediately after the rescue operations, supporting elements from the Philippine Army Special Operations Command (Socom) provided security to the 15 hostages on their way to Basilan Provincial Capitol.
Villanueva said that the 15 hostages, mostly women and children, were in good health condition when rescued by Army troopers.
Villanueva said military operations will continue against the Abu Sayyaf members led by Khaddafi Janjalani until the 15 other kidnap victims have been accounted for by authorities.
Southcom officials expressed belief that the 15 rescued victims were left behind by the escaping Abu Sayyaf members who have been subjected to large-scale military operations from their hideout at Camp Abdujarak in Sumisip, Basilan more than a week ago.
Operating elements from the Philippine Marines and Philippine Army have overran Camp Abdujarak but failed to locate the 29 hostages.
Military authorities expressed belief that the terrorists escaped through the tunnels they constructed at Camp Abdujarak.
2 killed?
Two foreign hostages died during a predawn clash Wednesday between military troops and Muslim rebels who are holding 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists, on Jolo Island in the southern Philippines, guerrilla leaders said.
Military officials said they had no knowledge of any hostage fatalities, and said the claim may have been propaganda by the extremist Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The clash apparently occurred when the hostages were being transferred to another location, officials said.
Troops seized the bamboo hut where the hostages had been held, but found no one inside. No bloodstains were evident inside the hut, and medicines brought by a doctor on Monday were left behind, police said.
Meanwhile, at least 15 of a separate group of 27 hostages who had been held by other Abu Sayyaf rebels in neighboring Basilan province were rescued Wednesday, said Brig. Gen. Narciso Abaya of the military's Southern Command. Five of the hostages were injured, he said.
Military sources said some of the other hostages were killed by the fleeing guerrillas.
Soldiers spotted the rebels fording a stream just five kilometers (three miles) from downtown Isabela, Basilan's capital, officials said. The hostages, who included 22 children, were kidnapped March 20 from two schools.
The rebels offered earlier Wednesday to release all their captives if the military halts its pursuit of them.
Troops overran their mountain stronghold over the weekend but found no hostages.
On Jolo, fighting between soldiers and Abu Sayyaf rebels continued Wednesday after heavily armed guerrillas attempted to escape from an encirclement by the military. At least two soldiers were killed and six injured, officials said.
Commander Robot, an Abu Sayyaf leader, claimed in a telephone interview with the local ABS-CBN radio network that a white foreign man had been accidentally shot in the fighting and a white foreign woman had died of a heart attack.
He apologized to their families and said it was not the rebels' doing.
Another rebel leader, Abu Escobar, later repeated the claim in a call to another radio station and said the rebels would proceed with a previous threat to behead two foreign hostages if the military does not pull back from the rebels' hideout.
Col. Ernesto de Guzman of the military's Southern Command said the troops would stay put.
"We will not move in and we will not move out," he said.
He said the overnight fighting was very far from where the hostages are believed held.
The 21 hostages were kidnapped April 23 from a Malaysian diving resort and brought to a bamboo hut in the hills of Talipao on Jolo, about one hour away by boat.
The hostages have pleaded to the government to halt military operations in the area.
In announcing their threat Tuesday to behead two of the foreign tourists, Escobar said the troops had moved so close to the rebel hideout that the kidnappers could see them.
Nur Misuari, the government's hostage negotiator, said the rebels have refused to begin formal talks unless the troops are moved from the area. He also urged a halt to the military operations.
"I want only peaceful means because I believe this is more effective in getting them released safely than military means," said Misuari, a former Muslim rebel leader.
Misuari said he had conflicting reports that the two hostages were dead or merely injured.
Several foreign countries have offered to help negotiate, but the Philippine Government said Wednesday it could take care of it alone.
"We've asked them to please give us the opportunity to handle the problem," Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said. If needed, he said, "we will get their advice and we will get whatever assistance they can give us. But the ball is in our court at this time."
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of two groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the Philippines' impoverished Mindanao region, home of the country's Muslim minority.
The other group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), claimed responsibility for a number of bomb explosions in the southern Philippines Wednesday that killed at least four and injured dozens.
The Jolo hostages include tourists from Germany, France, South Africa, Finland and Lebanon, as well as resort workers from the Philippines and Malaysia.
Several have written letters to their embassies asking them to pressure the Philippine Government to speed up negotiations and remove the troops to prevent further clashes and let the kidnappers obtain food.
Several journalists who accompanied a doctor to the simple bamboo hut Monday were able to interview the hostages, who complained of food shortages, fevers and infections. The doctor later reported that most of the hostages appeared exhausted and dehydrated. She said she told the rebels that two captives need to be hospitalized, but the rebels did not immediately agree.
President Joseph Estrada authorized Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to get the children who have been held as hostages by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and to deliver them back to their families.
May 19, 2000, National Catholic Reporter, Four hostages die in rescue operation.
Fifteen hostages seized by the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines were freed on the 12th day of a military rescue operation, but four hostages died, including a Claretian priest.
The remains of Fr. Rhoel Gallardo, pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Tumahubong, Basilan, were among four battered bodies recovered May 3 by the military, Fr. Martin Jumoad said.
The chancellor of Isabela prelature comprising Basilan province received the bodies of Gallardo, a male and two woman teachers at a funeral home 10 kilometers outside the capital town of Isabela. One of the women was a teacher at the Claretian School of Tumahubong.
Jumoad rejected television news reports that the dead were killed "by stray bullets in the crossfire" saying, "These were brutal executions."
On April 22, the military attacked Abu Sayyaf's Camp Abdurajak where the extremists held 29 of some 50 hostages they seized from Tumahubong on March 20. The other hostages had been freed.
The military assault to rescue the remaining hostages was hampered by heavy rains and mines in the periphery of the fort.
Ten other hostages remain with the Abu Sayyaf group. Bishop Romulo de la Cruz of Isabela said that one other woman teacher reportedly seized in March has not been seen in the camp by the hostages. Survivors have also not seen two male teachers since the Abu Sayyaf group announced their execution on April 19.
March 30, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Trail of beheadings,
MANILA, Philippines --As a "birthday gift" to then President Joseph Estrada, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded hostages Dante Uban and Nelson Enriquez on April 19, 2000. The soldiers-turned-teachers were among 53 civilians abducted from two schools in Basilan the previous month.
The beheading took place after demands, including the release of three Muslims imprisoned in the United States, were not met. The bodies were unearthed three weeks later.
In 2001, the bandit group threatened to decapitate American Jeffrey Schilling as a gift to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on her 54th birthday on April 5 after the US and Philippine governments rejected their demand for a $10-million ransom.
In response, the President ordered soldiers to attack the kidnappers of Schilling, who was seized on Aug. 28, 2000, in Patikul on Jolo Island. On April 12, 2001, soldiers rescued the American.
Another American hostage was not as lucky. On June 12, 2001, the Abu Sayyaf cut the head of Guillermo Sobero as an "Independence Day gift" to the President. Sobero was one of 20 persons abducted from Dos Palmas resort in Palawan on May 27, 2001.
Last year, the Abu Sayyaf threatened to kill ABS-CBN cameraman Angelo Valderama, who was abducted together with broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and fellow cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion in Sulu on June 8, 2008.
Valderama was released on June 12, reportedly after P2 million in ransom was paid. Drilon and Encarnacion were freed on June 17 on "purely humanitarian grounds."
Cyril L. Bonabente, INQUIRER Research
41 total
November 22, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Is this any way to treat our teachers?
GABRIEL CANIZARES was by no means the first teacher in the Philippines to be abducted and beheaded.
On May 6, 2000, the headless bodies of teachers Dante Uban and Nelson Enriquez of Sinangkapan High School and Sinangkapan Elementary School, respectively, were found in Basilan. They were reportedly beheaded as the Abu Sayyaf's "birthday gift" to then President Joseph Estrada.
Kidnapping teachers for ransom doesn't make sense. Everybody knows teachers barely make enough to tide them over until the next paycheck. How can their families be expected to afford the ransom?
Gabriel Canizares was the family's breadwinner. It was impossible for his parents and siblings to raise the P2 million demanded by his abductors, even if they begged, stole and borrowed.
In a decent society, civilians are not attacked purposely even in times of war. Teachers are civilians. On top of that, they are civilians with a mission, which is to guide the young through the maze that leads to a vault of values that human beings need to get along with one another, to a chest of stories, art, music and other treasures that make life worth the stay and, if he is a good teacher, to a well of wisdom.
Don’t terrorists have children who need teachers? Or have they stopped sending their young to school because they think all their children need is hands-on training on how to fire a gun or sever a head?
The following list, which goes back to the year 2000 only, reveals that teachers in Mindanao have been easy prey. Read it and weep.
2000: 37 reported victims
March—Two teachers were abducted by gunmen who barged into a public school building in the village of Kabaluay on the outskirts of southern Zamboanga City, police said.
March 9—Teachers Leticia Calo and Maybelyn (Nevelyn) Apolinario were abducted by four gunmen. They were rescued March 22.
March 14—Teacher Cecille Fermace was abducted outside a public elementary school in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, and taken away on a motor boat. Another teacher was also seized but managed to escape, according to police. Fermace was released on March 17.
March 15—Unidentified men in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao took Misuari Sipe, an instructor of the Cotabato City Polytechnic College.
March 20-22—Teachers were abducted from four schools in Basilan.
Seized at the Tumahubong East Elementary School were school supervisor Juanito Arellano and teachers Nurhaida Katoh, Saida Sahirin, Nita Abajud, Macario Mandun, Abubakar Denil, Sahijain Saijan and Haiba Muslimin.
Abducted at the Sinangkapan Elementary School in Tuburan town were 21 pupils and teachers Nelson Enriquez, Laida Adjun, Teresita Academia, Erlinda Manuel, Editha Lumome and Albert Sahao.
At the Sinangkapan National High School, the rebels seized teachers Ruben Democrito, Rodolfo Irong and Dante Uban.
They also abducted at the Claret High School Fr. Roel Gallardo, school director and parish priest; Reynaldo Rubio, principal; and teachers Winifer Silorio, Annabel Mendoza and Marissa Rante.
April 19—Dante Uban and Nelson Enriquez were believed beheaded as the Abu Sayyaf’s “birthday gift” to President Joseph Estrada. Their headless bodies were found on May 6.
May 3—The military rescued six kidnapped teachers. Three others were killed. Survivors said the rebels executed Claret’s Gallardo and Mendoza, Sinangkapan High School teacher Democrito and Sinangkapan Elementary School teacher Lumome.
July—Sinangkapan Elementary School teachers Academia and Manuel were released by the Abu Sayyaf.
June 19—Public school teachers Edna Quimeging and Elizabeth Porfirio were kidnapped in Kalawit, Zamboanga del Norte. They were rescued on Aug. 5.
July 13—Armed men snatched public school teachers Annalyn Cruz, Daisylyn Camacho and Nelson Prantar in a coastal village of Naga, Zamboanga del Sur. Camacho and Cruz were released on Aug. 23. At dawn on July 23, Prantar escaped from his kidnappers.
Aug. 15—Maria Teresa Raz was freed unharmed. She was reportedly kidnapped in Basilan (no information on when she was abducted).
Aug. 23—Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched Marissa Adjad at the Sulu School of Arts and Trade in Talipao.
Oct. 14—Arvia Abrera was kidnapped by armed men in Basilan.
2002: 4 reported victims
Sept. 13—Luzvillar Castillon, Editha Buntilao, Emma Karaan and Salvacion Miken, teachers at the Mindanao State University (MSU) Integrated Laboratory School, were seized by four armed men in Marawi. They were released on Sept. 25.
2003: 1 reported victim
Feb. 26—Rhede Nelson Manulat, a professor at the MSU, was abducted in Marawi City.
2005: At least 10 victims
April 21—14 people, mostly teachers and students of MSU, were kidnapped while on their way to Marawi City. They were rescued eight hours later.
Dec. 2—Couple Felipe and Helen Lacunias, teachers at the Lanao National College of Arts and Trade in Marawi City, were abducted by two armed men. Moro guerrillas and government forces rescued them on Dec. 4 in Piagapo, Lanao del Sur.
2008: 23 reported victims
Jan. 15—Teacher Omar Taup was snatched by armed men who shot and killed Oblate priest Rey Roda in Barangay Tabawan, South Ubian town. Taup was released sometime in March.
June 8—MSU professor Octavio Dinampo was abducted in Sulu, together with broadcast journalist Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN and her two cameramen. Dinampo was freed June 17.
June 26—21 MSU teachers were kidnapped, but 20 were freed shortly after. One was released in December.
2009: 7 reported victims
Jan. 23—Landang Gua Elementary School teachers Janette de los Reyes, Rafael Mayonado and Freires Quizon were abducted by bandits on their way to work and taken to Basilan. They were freed on May 27.
March 13—Jocelyn Enriquez, Jocelyn Inion and Noemi Mandi were on a motor boat from Bangkaw Bangkaw Elementary School en route to Naga town when abducted by armed men. They were released on Sept. 23.
Oct. 19—Gabriel Canizares was seized. On Nov. 9, Canizares’ severed head, stuffed in his own backpack, was found outside a gasoline station in Jolo.
Compiled by Schatzi Quodala, Inquirer Research
(Source: Inquirer Archives)
May 8, 2000, Newsweek Magazine, Trouble in Paradise, by Marites D. Vitug, T. J. Tan,
The raiders moored their fishing boat off the tiny Malaysian island's most secluded corner, a preserve for nesting sea turtles. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles and a bazooka, the six fatigue-clad men stealthily crossed the sand to Sipadan Island Resort's dining hall.
Inside, a dozen vacationers were just sitting down to Easter Sunday dinner after a nearly perfect day of diving. Then the gunmen burst in. "Be quiet or we will shoot you all!" one intruder warned in English, and someone echoed the threat in Malay. The guests and staff obeyed, hopelessly unprepared for trouble. Armed attacks tend to be the last thing on anyone's mind in this unspoiled bit of paradise. The late Jacques Cousteau once declared Sipadan's coral reef to be "one of the 10 wonders of the underwater world." Scant minutes after the attack began, the raiders sailed north, toward the nearby Philippines, with 21 hostages aboard, including six resort employees, four members of the Malaysian Wildlife Department and a local police officer--as well as two South Africans, a Lebanese, three Germans, two Finns and two French travelers. (An American couple managed to escape.) Before leaving, the kidnappers scrawled a name in blue ink on one wall of the dining hall: ABU SAYYAF.
The shock forces of Abu Sayyaf had struck again--in spades. In the past, the Islamic splinter group's fighters always kept their kidnappings, holdups and terrorist attacks strictly confined to their home turf, in the southern Philippines. Last week's unprecedented raid on a Malaysian target, an hour's sail south of Philippine waters, showed that Abu Sayyaf's members are ready to break all the old rules in the name of carving their own Islamic state out of Philippine soil. As if the embattled Philippine president, Joseph Estrada, needed to be told: the militants have been holding about 30 Filipino hostages, including a parish priest and 17 schoolchildren, since March 20. On April 19, four days before the Easter raid, the rebels announced that they had beheaded two hostages as a "birthday gift" to the president as he turned 63.
The history of Abu Sayyaf (Arabic for "Bearer of the Sword") is brief but bloodsoaked. Other Islamic separatists denounce its vicious ideology and tactics as "un-Islamic and evil." The extremist group was founded in 1991 by Abdujarak Abubakar Janjalani, a Libya-trained preacher who had grown up on the southern Philippine island of Basilan. A spellbinding speaker with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Qur'an, he quickly attracted a small army of eager young recruits with promises of "pure" Islamic rule. But his followers were far outnumbered by the deadly enemies they made in the early '90s by kidnapping Roman Catholic priests and nuns for ransom and attacking movie theaters and churches with hand grenades.
Manila hit back hard. Counterinsurgency forces pounded the rebels while physicians, dentists and teachers conducted a successful hearts-and- minds campaign among Basilan's desperately poor civilians. Meanwhile, in 1996, the government made peace with the country's main rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), creating an autonomous Muslim region on the island of Mindanao. A breakaway group, the 15,000- strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is still fighting--but wants no part of Abu Sayyaf. After Janjalani died in a police shoot-out in 1998, his group was thought to be virtually out of business.
No such luck. The founder's younger brother, Khaddafi Janjalani, quietly managed to rebuild a ragtag but dangerous fighting force of roughly 200 armed men. On March 20 the group made a spectacular comeback, attacking an Army detachment and four schools in Basilan. "They came out of the woodwork," says Prof. Mehol Sadain, an Islamic- studies expert at the University of the Philippines. The rebels grabbed about 50 civilian hostages and began issuing demands for such basics as rice and blankets. But Sadain believes that the raid's real objective was to capture attention, especially from overseas Islamic militants with cash to donate.
The kidnappers got the publicity they sought. The government even sent in the negotiator they asked for, the action-movie swashbuckler Robin Padilla, who posed for pictures with the captors and persuaded them to free two of the schoolhouse hostages. But a local group of anti-rebel vigilantes outdid him by snatching nearly a dozen members of Khaddafi Janjalani's family, including his 1-year-old daughter, his mother and his pregnant wife. Abu Sayyaf freed 18 hostages, and Janjalani got back his wife and daughter--but the vigilantes kept nine other relatives. Janjalani angrily issued a list of new demands, notably the release of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and his spiritual leader, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, imprisoned for conspiracy in the United States. The Abu Sayyaf leader warned Estrada in a letter: "The fate of the parish priest, teachers and schoolchildren lies in your decision as the head of state."
The government has been unable to reclaim the initiative. "We do not negotiate with terrorist movements," insisted the Defense secretary, Orlando Mercado, as other senior officials tried and failed to win a deal for the hostages' freedom. Abu Sayyaf announced the execution of two hostages from the schoolhouse raids and warned that others would die "for every negative reaction" to the group's demands. On April 22, three days after that warning, Estrada launched an all-out assault on Janjalani's stronghold, sending in helicopters, bombers and 1,500 government troops.
The rebels hit the Malaysian island resort the next day. Late last week the victims were reported to be alive, but weak and hungry. Their captors were said to have dispersed them to three separate locations in the Sulu Archipelago, demanding ransom variously reported as $731,000 or $2.63 million. The government insists it won't pay, no matter what the sum may be. Meanwhile the region's future is effectively being held hostage by Janjalani and his followers. As long as they run free, they will keep scaring away investors and tourists. Too bad for the innocent people who live there. Their land has all the makings of a paradise.
May 19, 2000, National Catholic Reporter, Four hostages die in rescue operation.
June 8, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Abu Sayyaf may free 6 children,
June 17, 2000, AP Online, 5 Filipino Child Hostages Released,
July 7, 2000, Philippine Headline News, TV Preacher Beheaded by Sayyaf?,
July 8, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Preacher's Release Not Top Priority
July 18, 2000, Philippine Headline News, M.I.L.F. Rebels Massacre 21 Christians,
July 24-25, 2000, CWNews.com, Muslim Rebels Release Two Filipino Catholic Teachers,
August 25, 2000, BusinessWorld, Vector: Robotics, not 'Robot', 700+ words
January 4, 2001, Filipino Reporter, Priest, driver shot dead in Jolo: Abu Sayyaf band eyed,
June 3, 2001, The Philippine Star, Abus seize hospital, take 200 hostages, by Roel Pareno, Jaime Laude,
December 12, 2001 , The Boston Herald, Many learn about Islam the hard way.(Editorial) by Don Feder,
January 2, 2001, FIDES/CWNews.com, Fides Lists 30 Missionaries Slain in 2000,
January 4, 2001, Filipino Reporter, Priest, driver shot dead in Jolo: Abu Sayyaf band eyed,
April 12, 2004, Manila Bulletin, 19 Basilan jail escapees captured; 8 others killed,
July 19, 2004, Philippine Star, Our Foolish 'Truce' W / MILF Crippled Drive Vs, Terrorists, Max Soliven,
March 30, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Trail of beheadings,
November 22, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Is this any way to treat our teachers?
May 2, 2010, Discover Our Catholic Faith blogspot, May 2, 2010 (5th Sunday of Easter),
June 20, 2010, News Break Archives, 'I even thought of committing suicide', by Marissa Rante,
March 1, 2000, BusinessWorld (Philippines), Peace talks to proceed despite bombings, by Lugo, Leotes
[Excerpts:]
Also yesterday, MILF denied involvement in any of the recent bombings in Mindanao, claiming the attacks are part of a plot to picture rebels as terrorists.
MILF vice-chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad said the bombings were also activities of "deep penetration agents"of the military seeking to destabilize the government.
"The MILF leadership is not stupid enough to do something that will backfire on us," Mr. Murad told a radio interview.
Mr. Murad said the rebels were able to arrest recently three military "deep penetration agents" who admitted being part of a coup plot against Mr. Estrada.
He also said the resumption of peace talks tomorrow may be sabotaged given weak security arrangements and unrest in Mindanao.
March 21, 2000 , The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf rebels take 77 people hostage in Basilan,
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A group of Muslim extremist guerrillas attacked an Army outpost early yesterday in Basilan and seized 77 people, including a priest and students from two schools, the military said.
About 60 members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group staged the attack on the outpost in the village of Tumahubong in Sumisip town, said Col. Hilario Atendido, civilian-military relations chief of the military's Southern Command.
Atentido said about 50 of the students were later freed by the rebels, who were led by commanders Isnilon Hapilon and Khadafy Montaño Janjalani, brother of slain Abu Sayyaf chieftain Ustadz Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.
As the rebels fled from pursuing troops, some swooped down on a Catholic high school and seized the parish priest, the Rev. Roel Gallardo, director of the Claret High School; school principal Reynaldo Rubio, six teachers and 39 students, the military said.
Five of the teachers were identified as Annebelle Mendoza, Marissa Mante, Winiefer Hilario, Nourhaida Kotoh and Ernesto Arellano.
Other rebels seized seven elementary and four high school teachers from the Sinangkapan National High School in nearby Tuburan town, Atendido said. One of the teachers was later rescued by soldiers.
The rebels apparently seized the students and teachers to use them as "human shields" against pursuing soldiers, Atendido said.
They later released 20 students unharmed, he said.
The rebels refused to negotiate with the police and the military, but asked for a doctor and wanted to talk with reporters, said Alan Cajucom, head of the local Red Cross chapter.
Cajucom said the rebels, who called from a cellular telephone, did not state any immediate demands.
The Abu Sayyaf was also suspected in the abduction last week of two elementary school teachers in a village in Zamboanga City. The teachers are still being held.
The attack in Basilan came as troops pursued guerrillas of another Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who attacked military outposts in four towns in Lanao del Norte province on the southern island of Mindanao.
Clashes that followed those attacks left more than 80 guerrillas and 11 soldiers dead. Seven civilians also were killed, officials said.
The Office of Civil Defense said the fighting has forced more than 7,500 people to flee their villages in four Lanao del Norte towns. The evacuees were given shelter in school buildings, it said.
Lanao del Norte Gov. Imelda Dimaporo said the number of evacuees could be bigger since three other towns were not included in the civil defense list. She did not give details.
She said Muslim vendors in the capital of Tubod have left the town for fear of retaliation from Christian residents.
The Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two Muslim rebel groups, has been blamed for numerous attacks against Christians, including foreign missionaries, in the southern Philippines.
March 21, 2000, BusinessWorld (Philippines) Moro terrorists abduct Basilan priest, teacher (Second abduction by Abu Sayyaf this month).by Cathy Rose A. Garcia,
Suspected Moro terrorists belonging to the Abu Sayyaf abducted a Catholic priest, a private high school principal, a high school teacher and a student in Basilan yesterday.
Initial reports from the Armed Forces Southern Command based in Zamboanga City identify two of the abduction victims as priest RuelGallardo and principal Reynaldo Rubio.
The teacher and the high school student who were also abducted, both from the Catholic-run Claret High School, are still to be identified.
Their abductors reportedly retreated towards the direction of Bgy. Sukatin. They have yet to demand for ransom for the release of the victims.
Meanwhile, the Southern Command also reported that around 60 Abu Sayyaf members attacked an Army detachment in Bgy. Tumahubong in Sumisip, Basilan at around 8 a.m. yesterday.
The fire fight lasted for about 30 minutes, the command said. In its report, it also said the attack could have been a diversion to minimize military attention on the abduction.
Two soldiers were reportedly injured in the fire fight.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces spokesman Col. Rafael Romero tried to downplay the apparent increase in Abu Sayyaf-initiated abductions in Minda-nao.
The military earlier declared the Abu Sayyaf a "spent" force, after the death of its leader in 1998.
"I think the Abu Sayyaf is still a force to reckon with, although they have dissipated in numbers. We continue to recognize the Abu Sayyaf as a threat," Mr. Romero told reporters at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
The Abu Sayyaf strength is placed at 1,000 members.
Yesterday's abduction was the second time this month by the Abu Sayyaf group. On March 9, Abu Sayyaf members abducted two public school teachers in Zamboanga City.
Mr. Romero said members of the 10th Infantry Battalion have been deployed to hunt down Abu Sayyaf members.
March 22 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Erap orders all-out war vs Moro rebels
[Excerpts]
Kauswagan Mayor Moamar Jack Maruhom is suspended by President Estrada pending investigarion of the residents' charges against him of "cowardice" and "connivance."
The President said he aasked his LAMP partymate, Kauswagan Mayor Moamar Jack Maruhom to go on leave while the Department of Interior and Local Government is investigating his alleged "cowardice" and "connivance." with the MILF during the MILF rebels' occupation of the town.
March 22 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Basilan rebels threaten to kill 43 hostages, by Julie Alipala-Inot, PDI Mindanao Bureau
ZAMBOANGA CITY---More extremist rebels in nearby Basilan province yesterday offered to free some of the civilians they are holding hostage in exchange for food and medicine, But the reebels belonging to the extremist group Al Haratul Islamiya threatened to kill the hostages, including a priest and 21 elementary school students, if the military launches an assault.
"In the name of God, please release the innocent people," Fr. Angel Calvo of the Claretian Missionary Fathers appealed to the armed men who seized the hostages Monday after a daring attack on an Army detachment.
"If they bring food to us, we will free some some of thw hostages. They can take some of the children," Abu Ahmnad Salayuddin, spokesperson of the Al Haratul Islamiya, said in a radio interview monitored in Zamboanga City.
"We will not harm the hostages but if the military launches an operation to rescue the victims...the blood will be on your hands," Salayuddin, alias Sumaya, warned.
The Al Haratul Islamiya is the new name of the Abu Sayyaf group which was responsible for a series of kidnappings, bombings and other terrorist attacks in Western Mindanao [more]
March 22, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Muslim Rebels Threaten to Kill 43 Hostages,
Zamboanga City, March 22, 2000 - A group of heavily armed rebels belonging to the Muslim fundamentalist group Abu Sayyaf threatened yesterday to kill their hostages if the government forces continue to launch rescue operations.
The rebels, however, offered to free some of the children held captive in exchange for food and medicine.
Undeterred by the group's warnings, Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said the troops would pursue their operations against the Abu Sayyaf. But he asked the rebels not to harm their captives, pointing out that the hostages were civilians who had nothing to do with the conflict.
"If they bring the food to us, we will free some of the hostages. They can take some of the children," Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad Alajudin said in a radio interview in Zamboanga City.
He confirmed that they were still holding 43 civilians, consisting of 27 elementary and high school students, a Catholic priest and 15 teachers of the Claret school in Barangay Sampinit in Isabela, Basilan.
The hostages were seized after the rebels tried to attack last Monday an Army outpost in the village of Tumahubong in Sumisip town in Basilan.
"We will not harm the hostages, but if the military launches an operation to rescue the victims, it is up to them. The blood will be on their hands," Admad warned.
He also said one of the captives was pregnant and had a miscarriage. "We need a doctor and a female Red Cross worker to cure the sick and the injured," he added.
Ahmad said they would negotiate only with members of the Claretian order and a local politician, Candu Muarip.
Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom), said he has ordered his men to ensure the safety of the hostages.
Heavily armed Abu Sayyaf fundamentalist guerrillas stormed the Army outpost early Monday morning, triggering a 30-minute firefight that left two soldiers wounded.
But the troops' gallant defense, forced the rebels to withdraw toward the Claret High School where they seized Fr. Roel Gallardo, school principal Reynaldo Rubio, five other teachers and a large group of students.
Later that day, another group of Abu Sayyaf rebels swooped down on Sinangcapan High School in Tuburan town where they abducted 11 teachers.
Southcom spokesman Col. Hilario Atendido said the guerrillas holding the teachers and students were led by Insilon Hapilon and Kadafi Janjalani, brother of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.
Villanueva raised the possibility that the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf were acting in concert to draw attention away from MILF units under siege by the military.
Addressing soldiers in Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte yesterday, the President said there would be no letup in the government's anti-insurgency drive.
"I am warning them, I will not ease up. We will not rest... my soldiers will not rest until they (rebels) are defeated," Mr. Estrada said before hundreds of soldiers and townsfolk in Kauswagan which was occupied last week by some 400 MILF guerrillas.
As the Chief Executive spoke, Army artillery could be heard from a distance as fighting between the troops and the MILF rebels raged.
Grim-looking presidential guards, armed with assault rifles, formed a human wall around the President to protect him from snipers as he alighted from a military helicopter to pin medals on the soldiers.
At the town hall where glass windows were shattered during last week's fighting, Mr. Estrada ate a lunch of noodles and smoked fish with the troops.
"The attack on Kauswagan was a direct challenge to our government. We will not let them spread fear and terror among our people," Mr. Estrada stressed.
The military had claimed some 100 MILF guerrillas were killed in last week's clashes, but the rebel group insisted they lost only seven men.
Meanwhile, the Vatican representative to Manila has telephoned the Basilan prelature to express his concern over the abductions.
Fr. Martin Jumuad, chancellor to the Basilan prelature, said on the radio that the papal nuncio was "very much worried."
"The only assurance that he is saying to us is that he will raise this immediately to the attention of the Pope and he assured us of his prayers," Jumuad said.
He also appealed to the rebels to release the children, saying they are innocent.
The priest also said the church was willing to negotiate and provide food.
The Abu Sayyaf was blamed for last month's simultaneous bomb attacks on two police stations and a restaurant in Basilan, killing one person and wounding 17 others.
Meanwhile, the President ordered the 15-day suspension of Kauswagan Mayor Moamar Maruhom for allegedly abandoning his constituents at the town hall during the MILF attack. Vice Mayor Peddy Milan was designated as officer-in-charge.
Lanao del Norte Gov. Imelda Dimaporo has denied allegations she was sympathetic to the MILF. Dimaporo said while they are also Muslims, it did not mean they were supporting the MILF.
"I have not even seen or met any of the MILF commanders, but I have received extortion letters from them asking for money or revolutionary taxes which I did not give," the governor said.
Despite the resurgence of hostilities in Mindanao, Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon said that the National Security Council remained confident that a peace treaty with the MILF could be concluded by June 30, the deadline set by Mr. Estrada.
March 23, 2000, The Philippine Star, 2 kidnap victims rescued, by Roel Pareno,
ZAMBOANGA CITY - Two kidnapped teachers were rescued yesterday by government troopers in Basilan province after 13 days of captivity.
Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Southern Command, said Leticia Calo and Maybelline Apolinario, both assigned in Cabaluay Elementary School east of this city were freed somewhere in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.
Villanueva said the victims were abandoned by their captors led by a certain Darah Sela following pressures from the pursuing troops of the 10th Infantry Battalion.
Villanueva said the two kidnap victims looked haggard and tired. They will be ferried to the Camp Navarro General Hospital for treatment.
Villannueva added that the Army troops continue to pursue the kidnap suspects who are believed to be still hiding in Tipo-Tipo.
Meanwhile, two more men were abducted the other day in a daring attack along the Cotabato City national highway while government forces were busy searching for a kidnapped merchant and his driver in a nearby town.
The latest kidnap victims, Felix Villanueva, of Midsayap, North Cotabato, and Jerry Calungsag, were believed taken by their captors to Liguasan Marsh, a waterway straddling rebel territories in Pagalungan, Maguindanao.
The abduction of the duo was puled off while policemen and soldiers were scouring the marshes at the borders of Matalam and Ming towns in North Cotabato in search of construction firm owner Genero Torqueza and his driver, Avelino Alagario. - With John Unson
42 hostages
March 23, 2000, The Philippine Star, AFP won't negotiate with Sayyaf for hostages' release, by Paolo Romero,
Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes rejected yesterday any negotiation with the Muslim fundamentalist group Abu Sayyaf for the release of 42 hostages still being held in two jungle hideouts in Basilan.
Earlier, the guerrillas released a pregnant teacher and two students to representatives of the Philippine National Red Cross and the Roman Catholic Church, said Red Cross provincial head Alan Cajucom.
In Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, President Estrada warned the Abu Sayyaf yesterday that the government will crush it if the group does not make peace before the June 30 deadline.
In Basilan, regional military officials said they are still trying to confirm reports that other hostages had been released aside from the three.
"Our policy is that we don't negotiate with terrorists and this is because what the terrorists want is to terrorize us," Reyes told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo.
"What we would like to happen, what we are doing is that we are continuing recovery efforts and pursuit operations so that we can recover the hostages," he said.
However, Reyes said the military does not oppose other groups negotiating for the hostages' release as long as they would not hamper efforts to rescue them.
"If some people would want to try their efforts in negotiating with them, and they are successful, that's good," he said. "But (military) operations would continue."
The Abu Sayyaf has threatened to kill the hostages if they are not given food and the military does not halt attempts to rescue the captives.
But Reyes expressed hope that the Abu Sayyaf would not make good its threat to kill the hostages.
"It would reveal the real character of these people as terrorists," he said.
Hadji Sabayan, Abu Sayyaf spokesman, said the group will only release the hostages to a representative of the Vatican and Basilan Rep. Gerry Salappudin.
Of the original 50 hostages, 42 were kidnapped in Barangay Tumahumbong and eight were taken from Barangay Sinangkapan, both in Basilan. They included 30 students, teachers and officials from Claret School in Tumahumbong, and a Catholic priest.
Cajucom told a radio interview that the Red Cross and Church emissaries walked for several hours in the Basilan jungle for a rendezvous with the three hostages and some of their captors.
He said the emissaries handed over several sacks of rice, canned goods and medicines to the guerrillas, but were not allowed to see or speak to the rest of the hostages.
The pregnant teacher, Winnifer Rosa Selerio, was reportedly very weak and was taken by boat to a military hospital in Zamboanga City.
"The rebels separated the hostages," Abdulrahman Asjad, one of the freed students, said. "They asked us about our religions and who are Muslims and who are Christians."
Cajucom identified some of the hostages as Marisa Rante, Annabelle Arellano, Nurthaida Kotoh, Saida Sahirin, Nila Ahajud, Macario Mandun, Abubakar Denil, Sahjuen Sijen, Ruben Democrito, Rodolfo Iron, Dante Uban, Nelson Enriquez, Lalda Adjun, Teresita Academia, Erlinda Manuel, Edith Suname, and Albert Sahao, all teachers; and Darry Reanbursa, Crisanto Ryan Lapulan, Ian Ray Lucid, Crisalyn Reanbursa, Anessa Caluton, Romela Mendoza, Nova Veralco, Hazel dela Torre, Josel dela Torre, Rellos Tria, Jennelyn Emo, Lynlyn Cachuela, Joan Barredo, Juliet Tonghay, Christelle Deva, Bon-Bon Tejalbo, Christie Vergara, Cherry Vergara, and Marie Christine Francisco.
The Abu Sayyaf attack came as clashes continued between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in southern Lanao del Norte. -- With Alvin Tarroza, Roel Pareño, AP, AFP
51 hostages
March 24, 2000, AP Online, Muslim Rebels Threaten Hostages,
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -- Muslim extremists accused authorities Friday of abducting 11 relatives of their rebel chief and warned that they will kill 51 of their hostages if the relatives are not freed.
"We will not hesitate to execute all the hostages," said Abu Ahmad, a spokesman of the rebel Abu Sayyaf group.
The hostages held by the rebels at a jungle hide-out on the southern island of Basilan include a Catholic priest and students and teachers seized from two schools on Monday.
Ahmad said followers of Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar raided the house of rebel leader Khadaffy Janjalani early Friday and abducted his wife, their 1-year-old daughter, his mother and seven other relatives.
Another relative was abducted by men in police uniforms riding in an ambulance on Thursday, apparently to force the Abu Sayyaf group to release their 51 hostages, Ahmad said. Akbar's spokesman, Hader Glang, denied involvement in any kidnapping.
Ahmad met reporters in a jungle near Basilan's Maluso town Thursday and told them the hostages are being cared for but need more food and medicine.
Military chief of staff Gen. Angelo Reyes said troops have been ordered to continue pursuing the rebels in Basilan, 560 miles south of Manila.
Clashes continued Friday between the military and a larger rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in southern Lanao del Norte province. The fighting, which began last week, has killed more than 110 guerrillas and 11 soldiers, the military said.
The MILF and Abu Sayyaf are both battling the Manila government for an independent Islamic nation in the southern Philippines. The MILF is engaged in peace talks with the government, but often clashes with soldiers.
President Joseph Estrada, who has set a June 30 deadline for the peace talks, has ordered an "all out war" against the rebels if they continue attacks.
Also Friday, officials reported that a Communist rebel group has proposed a resumption of peace talks, but only if they are held outside the Philippines, a condition they said the government cannot accept.
Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Sison, who lives in self-imposed exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht, made the proposal in a meeting with Philippine Ambassador Eloy Bello, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The rebels withdrew from the peace talks in May after the Philippine Senate approved an agreement with the United States allowing the resumption of large-scale U.S. military exercises.
The communist rebels said the agreement violated Philippine sovereignty, but Estrada has said they were using it as an excuse to end negotiations. The rebels, active since the late 1960s, say their security cannot be guaranteed if the talks are held here.
42 hostages
March 24, 2000, The Philippine Star, 'Crisis committee' to handle Sayyaf negotiations,
The government will form a "crisis management committee" that will spearhead negotiations with fundamentalist Muslim rebels holding hostage at least 42 students, teachers and a Catholic priest in the southern island province of Basilan.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado stressed that the government negotiators should insist on a no-ransom policy.
National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said the committee will be made up of local government officials, but would fall under his direct supervision in negotiating with the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The Abu Sayyaf extremist guerrillas stormed a Catholic school and a government-run high school last Sunday in Basilan after a failed attack on an Army outpost.
They seized at least 45 students, teachers and the priest, but freed a pregnant woman and two boys on Wednesday.
"We will provide all the necessary guidance and advice to the provincial crisis management committee to see to it that the primordial concern of safety of the hostages will be undertaken, and we will proceed to the ground with myself as representative," Aguirre said.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad said yesterday they will release 10 more captives in exchange for 200 sacks of rice, canned goods and medicines to be delivered to the rebel hideout by local Red Cross representatives and the Roman Catholic church.
Ahmad relayed the demand to Basilan Rep. Abdulgani Salapuddin who initiated talks with the rebels late Wednesday.
Ahmad also urged the military to call off pursuit operations, warning that it would only endanger the lives of the hostages who would be "killed like goats and sent to the town."
One of the captured teachers, Erlinda Manuel, told a local radio station many of the hostages, especially the children, were suffering from fever and flu and badly needed medicines.
"We also need food, clothes and other supplies," the teacher said by telephone from the rebels' jungle hideout.
To assure the people that the hostages are safe, Ahmad allowed four others to speak on the radio. They were teachers Annabel Mendoza and Lida Ajon, and students Jay-Jay Raimbonanza, 10, and Bon Adolf Sihalbo, 12.
Salapuddin said he would ask the defense department and the military to halt the troops' offensive to allow for negotiations for the safe release of the captives.
"Rescue operations must be stopped during the negotiations and until all the hostages have been released," Salapuddin said.
Mercado asserted, however, that the military would not object to negotiations being led by civilians, but stressed that the government's no-ransom policy should be upheld.
For his part, regional Army chief Brig. Gen. Narciso Abaya said Salapuddin should coordinate first with the military before starting the negotiations with the rebels.
"We will not fall into a trap where the rebels would use the negotiations to delay the release of all the captives," Abaya stressed.
The Abu Sayyaf attack on the two schools in Basilan came as government forces were trying to flush out guerrillas of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in mainland Mindanao where sporadic fighting has been raging since Wednesday last week, leaving scores of people dead or wounded.
Some 80 MILF rebels ambushed an Army patrol in Lanao del Norte, wounding three soldiers. -- Mike Frialde, Jess Diaz, Sandy Araneta, Alvin Tarroza, John Unson, Roel Parreño, AFP report
Visiting Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte late Wednesday, President Estrada ordered the military to crush the armed struggle in the island. "If we must smash them, we will smash them all. What they are doing is too much."
The President said while the peace talks with the MILF would continue, the military would press its offensive against criminals, kidnappers and terrorists.
Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera supported the President's position on the insurgency issue.
"I have always abhorred violence, but there are times when you need to take off the kid gloves against recalcitrant elements," Herrera said.
He claimed the MILF has been taking advantage of the peace process to encroach on civilian communities and raid Army and police detachments. "While we are holding peace talks, they continue to kidnap and occupy small towns to the detriment of the poor people."
In other developments, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) batted for the continuance of peaceful negotiations between the government and the MILF, and twitted Mr. Estrada for ordering an all-out offensive against the communist and Muslim.
CBCP secretary general and spokesman Bishop Nestor Cariño said Mr. Estrada's tough stance could weaken the peace talks.
Cariño also revealed that Bishop Romulo de la Cruz has been designated to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the safe release of the hostages in Basilan.
The Bishop-Ulama Forum of Western Mindanao, a religious organization of Christian and Muslim leaders, also appealed to the Abu Sayyaf to immediately free their hostages.
In a manifesto, the group also asked the military to call off any offensive that might endanger the lives of the captives.
Meanwhile, sporadic clashes between government forces and MILF guerrillas continued in Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao provinces.
The Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom) said at least three soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Sapad and Linamon towns in Lanao del Norte and in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao.
The wounded soldiers were identified as Cpl. Emmanuel Nacyfuna, Pfc. Jerry Valdez and Pfc. Renante Adolfo.
Southcom spokesman Col. Hillary Atendido claimed that undetermined number of MILF fighters were slain in the skirmishes.
Some 80 MILF guerrillas clashed with elements of the Army's 26th Infantry Battalion.
The fighting took place a few hours after a one-hour encounter in Linamon, involving troops from the Army's 1st Infantry Division and some 100 MILF rebels.
33 hostages March 26, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Abu Sayyaf Frees 18 Basilan Hostages
Isabela, Basilan, March 26, 2000 - The extremist rebel group Abu Sayyaf released 18 hostages yesterday and promised to free even more hostages if its demands for 200 sacks of rice were met.
The 18 hostages returned to the capital with Basilan Rep. Abdulgani Salapuddin, head of the government negotiators who earlier met with the Muslim rebel group in the hinterlands of this island-province.
Regional military chief Brig. Gen. Narciso Abaya said the released hostages included the youngest, a four-year-old boy. Most of those still being held are teachers and students.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad said in a radio interview the group would "release more as negotiations continue."
Salapuddin said the release of the 18 - composed of eight teachers and 10 students - brought the number still being held by the extremists down to 33.
The released hostages were identified as Ernesto Arellano, principal of Tumahubong Elementary School, Macario Mautdon, Albert Sahaw, Nita Asidin, Nurhalda Kotoh Abubakar, Saida Sabirin, Sahiduan Sahijan, Pairusa Sabirin, all teachers; and students Crisanto Reambonanza, Samina Samadul, Nadia Muslimin, Alih Sahirin, Jamal Abdulwasid, Dania Misal, and Dania and Dana Medial.
The military had earlier halted rescue operations against the Abu Sayyaf to start civilian negotiations for the safe release of the hostages still being held by the extremist group in Sumisip town, a senior military officer said.
"We halted rescue operations to allow peaceful negotiations," said Abaya.
The group had threatened to kill the hostages after 11 relatives of Janjalani were kidnapped Friday by an unidentified group in an apparent retaliatory kidnapping.
Asmad Salayudin, spokesman for the "Al-Harakatul Islamia" Abu Sayyaf group, said they were still holding more than 30 hostages, including Claret school administrator and director Fr. Roel Gallardo and school principal Reynaldo Rubio.
National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre is in Basilan to personally coordinate the various negotiating efforts by local officials, religious leaders and non-government organizations.
Salayudin said they would only divulge their actual demands during negotiations with Salapuddin, and that they could possibly release some of the hostages to movie actor Robin Padilla, who has converted to Islam.
"We might release some of the hostages to Robin Padilla if he joins the negotiations," the Abu Sayyaf spokesman said earlier.
The extremist group had earlier hinted that they were seeking the ouster of provincial police director Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan and Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar.
The Abu Sayyaf initially blamed Akbar for the seizure of their relatives and threatened to kill the hostages unless the relatives were freed. The governor denied involvement.
In a related development, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the government is investigating the reported kidnapping of Janjalani's wife and mother.
Mercado pointed out that there is currently no evidence that would show Gov. Akbar was involved in the abduction of the Janjalani family members.
53 hostages
March 28, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Negotiator quits; fate of Abu Sayyaf hostages in jeopardy,
The rebels seized 53 students, teachers and a Catholic priest
Basilan Rep. Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, who negotiated the release of 18 of 53 hostages taken last week,
33 hostages
April 10, 2000, The Philippine Star, Vigilantes threaten to rescue Sayyaf hostages, by Roel Pareño,
....reneged on its promise to swap 15 of its 33 hostages with the wife and daughter of its leader Khadafy Janjalani....
April 19, 2000, Associated Press / Christian Science Monitor, Philippines' rebel threats escalate,
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Four years after a peace treaty raised hopes of an end to the Philippines' decades-old Muslim secessionist rebellion, peace in the country's impoverished southern Mindanao region appears increasingly elusive.
In a southern Philippine province, a Muslim rebel group is threatening to execute Americans unless the United States releases convicted terrorists, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The group also says it will release 29 Filipino hostages it holds - but only if all Christian residents of the province are forbidden from displaying crosses in public.
The number of casualties and evacuees in the past month's fighting in Lanao del Norte province rate on the scale of a major disaster, surpassing even the 68,000 people who were forced to flee from the eruption of Mayon volcano in February.
The clashes are the most serious since the government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) began talks in 1997.
Over the years, the insurgency has killed more than 120,000 people and stunted the economy in Mindanao, one of the country's most resource-rich regions and home to its Muslim minority.
Hopes for peace rose in 1996, when the Moro National Liberation Front, the largest Muslim rebel group, signed a peace treaty in which it accepted autonomy, not independence. But the compromise was rejected by the MILF, a breakaway faction that wants to establish an independent Islamic state.
President Joseph Estrada has rejected any kind of Muslim independence, saying a dismemberment of the country is unacceptable.
The recent clashes flared last month when MILF guerrillas attacked Army outposts in several Lanao del Norte towns. As the military fought the MILF in Lanao del Norte, a smaller but more radical Muslim rebel group, the Abu Sayyaf, seized more than 50 hostages, including a Roman Catholic priest and several children.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels were still holding 29 hostages on April 14. Then on April 17 they threatened to kidnap or kill Americans in the Philippines if the US rejects their demand for the jailed terrorists, who include Ramzi Yousef, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people, and Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.
The US yesterday rejected the Muslim rebels' demands and vowed to protect Americans whom the guerrillas had threatened to kidnap or kill.
29 hostages
April 19, 2000, Philippine Headline News, Rebuffed, Sayyaf to Behead 2 Male Hostages Today ,
Zamboanga City, April 19, 2000 - Muslim rebels belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group announced on radio yesterday they would decapitate two male hostages this afternoon as a "birthday gift" to President Estrada for rejecting their demand for the release of three Arab terrorists jailed in the United States. The group is still holding 29 hostages, mostly school children, on Basilan Island.
"We will execute two male hostages at 3 p.m. (today) as a birthday gift to President Joseph Estrada," said Abu Ahmad, spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf. "If Malacañang wants to order a military operation, then we will wait. We will start killing the hostages.”
Yesterday, the US issued a statement rejecting the Abu Sayyaf's demand to free the three jailed militants, and vowed to protect Americans in the Philippines whom the terrorists are threatening to kidnap or kill.
"The United States does not concede to threats or demands made by terrorists," the US Embassy in Manila said in a statement. "We have seen reports of this terrorist group's demands and take all threats against American citizens seriously."
The US Embassy also advised Americans to avoid traveling to Basilan and to exercise caution.
The Abu Sayyaf vowed to kill or kidnap Americans in the country Monday President Estrada dismissed their demands and threatened to send in the Armed Forces.
Around 100,000 Americans are in the country, with an undetermined number of them living in Mindanao and the Visayas.
The 29 remaining hostages are believed to include 22 children, several teachers, and a Catholic priest. They were among more than 50 people abducted last March 20 but the others have since been freed.
National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre told reporters yesterday the government's policy was first to exhaust all peaceful means to secure the hostage's release.
"Of course, we have prepared and considered other options...That is already a last resort," he said.
Aguirre challenged the Abu Sayyaf to stop involving innocent women and children in their terrorist activities.
"If they want to fight the government, we have the military and the police to fight against, but let us not harm civilians," he said.
Philippine National Police Chief Panfilo Lacson said the terrorists' threat was a ploy to gain international attention and to secure financial support from other terrorists like Osama bin Laden.
Lacson said the police was ready to provide security assistance to all foreigners in Mindanao following the Abu Sayyaf's threat to kill Americans in the country.
"It is standard operating procedure for us," he said. "We are mandated to protect the lives of everybody in the country whether there is a threat or not."
In General Santos City, Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Daisy Avance-Fuentes said the latest developments were slowly showing the Abu Sayyaf's "true color" that they are nothing but criminals.
"They have been acting like criminals," she said. "I think the government should seriously consider another approach to this problem."
Fuentes said the government was not inclined to make a compromise in dealing with the terrorists and that it was unfortunate that they were still holding 29 hostages.
"They should not expect any money from the government, (which is) of course the money of the people," she said. "There is no room for any compromise for the Abu Sayyaf as far as I am concerned."
April 24, 2000, Associated Press / Los Angeles Times, Philippine Forces Attack Muslim Rebels,
Hostages: Military uses planes and artillery in an attempt to free 27 hostages held in a mountain base. Rebels have already beheaded 2 hostages.
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Philippine forces advanced on the mountain base of Muslim rebels Sunday, hammering their defenses with airstrikes and artillery in an attempt to free 27 hostages.
The top general vowed to push ahead with the offensive against Abu Sayyaf rebels on southern Basilan Island, despite rebel threats to kill more hostages after beheading two last week.
The rebels killed those two after authorities refused their demands for the release of Muslim militants jailed in the United States, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
At least three soldiers were killed in Sunday's fighting, officials said. Nine teenage rebels were killed as they tried to escape bombardment of their camp on the slopes of the mountains leading up to the main camp, Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar said.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad denied that any rebels had died. He said two hostages, including a child, were injured in the shelling. Military officials said they could not confirm the report but have denied targeting the main camp, where the hostages are thought to be held.
Air force helicopters fired rockets at outlying rebel camps to allow ground troops to advance toward the main camp, said Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the military's Southern Command.
Navy ships also have been deployed to prevent the rebels from escaping or receiving reinforcements from comrades in nearby provinces.
About 500 government troops were fighting an estimated 230-250 rebels in the rescue attempt in Basilan, an island province about 550 miles south of Manila, military officials said.
"I feel it's about time we stop talking with these fanatics," Villanueva told the Associated Press. Otherwise, "they will just kill the hostages one by one," he said.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller but more radical of two Muslim groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. It has been blamed for numerous attacks on Christians, including the abduction of foreign missionaries.
The U.S. State Department has included the Abu Sayyaf in a list of 28 foreign groups that threaten Americans at home or abroad.
On Saturday, the rebels warned that they will behead five men they are holding, including a priest, if the military does not halt attempts to rescue the 27 hostages, among whom are many children and teachers, abducted from schools March 20.
Nonetheless, military chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said the assault will continue until the hostages are rescued and the rebels eliminated.
A provincial crisis-management committee that had been negotiating with the rebels made the decision to attack the camp after the Abu Sayyaf announced the killing of two hostages Wednesday.
The Abu Sayyaf has demanded the release of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.
The demands were rejected by the Philippine government and by the U.S. Embassy.
The rebels originally seized more than 50 people, including many children from two schools in Basilan, on March 20 for use as human shields after attacking an army outpost. Some of the hostages have since been freed.
In retaliation for the abduction, a group of vigilantes seized 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. They are still holding nine relatives after freeing Janjalani's pregnant wife and a daughter.
27 hostages
April 24, 2000, The New Straits Times, page 22, Christian cult beheads separatist, says report
Zamboanga, Sun.---Members of an armed Christian cult beheaded a separatist rebel today in the southern Philippine provinve of Basilan where his comrades are holding 27 hostages, a report said.
Radio station DXRZ said Murijidin Salih, a member of the Abu Sayyaf group was snatched near his home in a remote village in the capital town of Isabela early today by the Christian armed cult Sagrado Corazon de Jesus.
He was later beheaded by the Christian cult, his decapitated body left in the area. DXRZ said here citing police reports.
Police also recovered an M-16 automatic rifle and a pistol near the body, the radio station said.
The military's southern command here said they had received a report of the beheading, ading they were checking its veracity.
The Sagrado cult operates from a Zamboanga and its members are known to believe in mulets to protect them from encounters.
Last week, the group said it would launch an independent operation to rescue the 27 hostages, who were among more than 50 students, teachers and a Catholic priest snatched by the Abu Sayyaf last month. ---AFP
27 hostages
April 24, 2000, New Straits Times, Nine rebels killed in clashes, Troops pound Abu Sayyaf camp to rescue hostages,
28 hostages
April 25, 2000, Inquirer, AFP: We'll finish rescue on Wednesday, by Julie Alipala-Inot, PDI Mindanao Bureau, and Carlito Pablo,
27 hostages
May 3, 2000, Associated Press, Four hostages reported killed as troops, rebels clash in Philippines, by Jim Gomez,
JOLO, Philippines -- Four hostages were killed today when government troops stumbled upon Muslim rebels trying to cross a stream with their captives in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, officials said.
Troops screamed at the hostages to get down, then opened fire. Fifteen other hostages of the original 27 were rescued. Military sources said still others were taken by the fleeing guerrillas.
Meanwhile, on neighboring Jolo island, rebel leaders who are holding a separate group of 21 hostages said two of their foreign captives died during a pre-dawn clash with troops. But military officials said they had no knowledge that any of the hostages -- who include 10 foreign tourists -- had been killed. They said the claim may have been propaganda by the extremist Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The two clashes came during a chaotic day of fighting and fatal bombings in the southern Philippines. They were the latest development in a standoff that began in March and intensified 10 days ago with the seizure of hostages from a Malaysian resort. The day ended with murky casualty reports and efforts by officials to sort out exactly what happened.
In Basilan, a priest who saw the four bodies at a funeral home later in the day said they had been shot at close range. Two of the bodies had been mutilated, the Rev. Martin Jumoad said. It was unclear who shot them.
Five of the 15 rescued hostages were wounded, one seriously, military officials said. They were taken by helicopter to a military hospital.
The 27 Basilan hostages, who included 22 children, were among about 50 seized by Abu Sayyaf rebels on March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later released some captives, but they claimed two weeks ago to have beheaded two others, triggering a military assault on their stronghold. They had offered today to release all their hostages if the military halted its pursuit.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of two groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the Philippines' impoverished Mindanao region, home of the country's Muslim minority.
Today's clash on Jolo, meanwhile, apparently occurred when the 21 hostages there were being transferred to another location, officials said. Troops seized the bamboo hut where the hostages had been held, but found no one inside. No bloodstains were evident inside the hut, and medicines brought by a doctor on Monday were left behind, police said.
Commander Robot, an Abu Sayyaf leader, claimed in a telephone interview with the local ABS-CBN radio network that one hostage was accidentally shot in fighting with Philippine troops and another died of a heart attack. He apologized to their families and said it was not the rebels' doing.
the 27 Filipino hostages taken on March 20 -
May 4, 2000, Reuters / The Guardian, Philippine rebels split up hostages, by Erik de Castro in Jolo,
20.54 EDT,
Islamic rebels have split their 21 mainly foreign hostages into five groups and each group is trying to break through a cordon of troops around their jungle hideout, leading to sporadic gun battles, Philippine officials said yesterday.
Orlando Mercado, the defence secretary, said that all the hostages kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf (Father of the Sword) group from a Malaysian holiday resort on Easter Sunday were alive but still captive, discounting radio reports that two may have escaped or that some may have died in fighting around the rebel base on Jolo island, 600 miles south of Manila.
In a separate drama, another Abu Sayyaf unit sprayed gunfire on a group of Filipino hostages, including a priest, after tying their hands behind their backs when troops closed in on them on Wednesday, officials said.
Four of the 27 Filipino hostages taken on March 20 - schoolchildren, their teachers and the priest - were killed on Basilan island, near Jolo. Fifteen hostages were freed by the military, although five, including three children, were wounded. Eight hostages were unaccounted for.
"They sprayed them with gunfire before [the other hostages] started running," the army's commander in the south, Diomedio Villanueva, said, adding that many of the victims were bound before being killed. Police said the victims were also attacked with scythes.
We will not be satisfied until those devils, the Abu Sayyaf, are killed," Leoncia Democrito, the pregnant wife of one of those killed, said as she wept over his coffin.
Colleagues of Father Ruel Gallardo said that the 34-year-old priest had his nails pulled out and suffered daily beatings during his captivity. The Pope expressed his sorrow at the priest's death yesterday.
Meanwhile the government's chief negotiator, Nur Misuari, was meeting his staff to discuss a resumption of contacts with the rebels to free the Jolo hostages. Informal talks were disrupted on Wednesday after fighting erupted between the rebels and troops. Radio reports said nine guerrillas died in the clash, but the rebels said they lost one dead.
"The incidents are a consequence of [the rebel groups and captives] being broken up into five groups," Mr Mercado said. "There was also an attempt to probe and get people out, but they found that the cordon is tight and we have reinforced the cordon."
Some 2,000 troops are spread around the hills of Jolo to cut off rebel escape routes.
The Jolo hostages are 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese and a Filipina.
Germany yesterday added to growing pressure on Manila to end the crisis without bloodshed. The chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, said in Berlin that he had urged the Philippines president, Joseph Estrada, to put the lives of the hostages above any other aim. France has made similar pleas.
Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the mainly Catholic Philippines. The larger rebel group is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf).
On the main Mindanao island, where the Milf also unleashed a wave of violence on Wednesday, there was only sporadic fighting yesterday.
Military and radio reports said 35 people died on Wednesday when the Milf clashed with soldiers in five places, launched grenades at an airport and exploded bombs in a seaport town. It took about 100 hostages during the fighting, but withdrew overnight, leaving its hostages behind.
The violence racking the southern Philippines is the worst since another separatist group agreed to a peace deal with Manila in 1996.
Mindanao is home to most of the 5m Muslims in the country's 74m population.
Reuters
27 hostages
May 4, 2000, The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH), Rebels Execute Priest Gunfire Erupts During Rescue,
27 hostages
May 4, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Bin Laden sighted in Mindanao on March 18 - report,
* Members of an armed Christian cult called Sagrado Corazon Seor this week beheaded a member of Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, where his comrades claimed to have beheaded two hostages and are holding 27 others. The victim, Murijidin Salih, 24, who police said was wanted for murder cases, was snatched near his home in Basilan's capital town of Isabela by about 30 armed members of Sagrado Corazon. The cult said last week it would launch an independent operation to rescue the 27 hostages seized in March.
May 4, 2000, New York Times, Four Hostages Found Slain in the Philippines,
ISABELA, Philippines, May 3— Four hostages were found dead today shot execution-style and some mutilated -- after Muslim rebels holding 27 captives stumbled across Philippine troops by a river crossing and both sides opened fire.
The dead were identified as a priest, a male teacher and two female teachers. Most of the hostages were children who had been seized from a school. Fifteen children and their teachers were rescued after the gunfight in Basilan Province, but military officials said others were taken away by the fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels.
Also today, rebel leaders holding a separate group of 21 hostages on neighboring Jolo Island said two of their foreign captives died during a clash with troops. But military officials said they had no knowledge that any of the hostages -- who include 10 foreign tourists -- were dead.
The two clashes came during a chaotic day of attacks in the southern Philippines. As the hostage standoffs degenerated into gunfights, the region's other major rebel group claimed responsibility for a series of bombings that left at least four dead and dozens wounded in several towns. It was the worst recent outbreak of violence linked to the rebel groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the Philippines' impoverished Mindanao region, home of the country's Muslim minority.
In Basilan today, soldiers chanced upon the rebels at a river crossing and screamed to the hostages, ''Drop to the ground and don't run away,'' according to one of the rescued children, Regardo Gregorio. He said they dropped down and the soldiers and rebels began firing.There was no official word on who killed the four hostages. But there were indications that their captors were responsible. A priest who saw the bodies, the Rev. Martin Jumoad, said they had been shot in the head at close range. Several, including the female teachers, had apparently been hacked on their bodies and arms, he said.
Five of the rescued hostages were injured, one seriously. They were taken by helicopter to a military hospital.
The 27 Basilan hostages, mostly children, were among about 50 people seized by the rebels on March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later released some captives, but they said they beheaded two male teachers two weeks ago.
That claim led the military to launch an offensive against the rebel stronghold. Troops overran the area in fierce fighting over the weekend but failed to find any of the captives.
The rescued hostages said they had been taken from the camp on Saturday and forced to walk each night through forest trails.
Today's clash on Jolo apparently occurred when the separate group of 21 hostages there were being transferred to another location, officials said.
Troops seized the hut where the hostages had been held, but found no one inside.
Map of the Philippines highlighting Basilan: On Basilan, some were slain, some rescued, and others taken away.
27 hostages
May 5, 2000, AP / The Gainesville Sun World, Hostages say rebels beat, tortured them; Fifteen of 27 were rescued in a shootout in the Philippines,
ISABELA, Philippines---The 27 children and teachers spent six weeks as hostages in half-buried windowless rooms on a mountaintop before 15 were rescued in a hail of bullets.
"We were treated like pigs," said Renaldo Rubio. a teacher.
He and other former hostages spoke a day after Philippine troops stumbled upon the rebels and captives at a river crossing and managed to free nine children ande six teachers. The rebels fled with the remaining captives.
The rebels announced two weeks ago that they beheaded two male teachers because the government had rejected their demands, prompting the military attack on their stronghold. Some of the hostages said they were never informed.
"They told us the two teachers were sent home," said 14-year-old Charie Vergara. "They never said anything about beheading."
When they were spotted Wednesday by the military less than three miles from Isabela, Basilan's capitol, the children were walking in front, followed by the adult hostages with rebels in the rear. The guerrillas began firing directly into the backs of the adults, killing four, the survivors said.
Relatives cried Thursday at the wake for the Basilan victims at Isabela's cathedral.
28 captives
May 5, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu tortured, shot victims in the back, by Julie S. Alipala-Inot,
Priest's nails pulled out; teacher's breasts lopped off
ISABELA, Basilan--"What have they done to my daughter?" Josefina Arcillas, 79, nearly collapsed after seeing the body of her daughter Editha Lumame, 57, with multiple stitches where her breasts should have been. "She was just a plain teacher whose life was religiously dedicated to teaching. Then suddenly here comes this barbaric group who is only good in maiming hapless women," Arcillas cried, joining shocked mourners who yesterday viewed the tragic outcome of the hostage crisis here.
Weeping and trembling, the relatives of four dead hostages bent over the coffins of their loved ones at the Sta. Isabela Cathedral yesterday. "We will not be satisfied until those devils, the Abu Sayyaf, are killed," said Leoncia Democrito, the pregnant widow of victim Ruben Democrito. "I hope you can help my children, they are still very small," she cried, as she looked away from the casket holding her husband.
Lumame and Democrito's bodies were found Wednesday by military troops at the site of a gunbattle with Abu Sayyaf kidnappers. Lumame's breasts had been hacked off and her body bore multiple gunshot wounds. Two other bodies, those of Claretian priest Rhoel Gallardo and teacher Annabelle Mendoza, were also found sprawled in a pool of blood in Barangay Kumalarang in Lantawan town.
Gallardo suffered three gunshot wounds in his head, shoulder and back, and the nails on his index fingers and on his toes had been pulled out, said Fr. Edgar Rivero, a diocesan priest. "He was tortured first before they killed him. Experts (investigators and forensic doctors) told me that the nails were removed two to three days before he was shot at close range," Rivero said.
He said the body of the priest had been found with his hands tied with hemp rope. He said the hands of Democrito had also been tied. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Angelo Reyes said Gallardo's hands had been tied, but Malacañang said he had been killed in handcuffs. Police said the four victims were shot at and hacked with scythes when the patrol party encountered the rebels and the captives on Wednesday.
Rivero said the town's people were in a state of shock. Col. Ramon Pedro Sinajon, 5th Infantry Brigade commander, said Gallardo's skull and the upper left parietal lobe of his brain were shattered. "Brain was scattered (sic) when we airlifted the (bodies) from Lantawan to Isabela town yesterday," he said.
There was no official word on who killed the four hostages, but there were indications that their captors were responsible. A priest who saw the bodies said they had been shot at close range in the head. Several, including the female teachers, had apparently been hacked on their bodies and arms, the Rev. Martin Jumoad said.
Wilder, bolder
All the dead were shot from behind, Reyes said. "It only shows that the Abu Sayyaf Group here is becoming wilder and bolder," said Fr. Angel Calvo, a foreign Claretian missionary. This was the first time in the history of Basilan that a priest had been killed after being kidnapped, said Fr. Nestor Banga, a Claretian who assumed the position vacated by the late Gallardo.
Banga said that most of the priests or nuns who were previously kidnapped in Basilan, "were later freed. They might have been hurt, physically or emotionally, but not brutally slain." The death of Gallardo, Rivero said, would not serve as deterrent to other priests who would like to serve in Basilan. "We will continue to be here and we will continue to spread the word of God," he said.
Cross to carry
A despairing Basilan bishop Romulo de la Cruz called for justice. "It is a cross we have to carry," he said as he comforted the immediate families and relatives of the dead. De la Cruz lamented that Christians were "always bearing the brunt" of atrocities by Muslim guerrillas.
"What is good about this is that the good Muslims have banded together against the Abu Sayyaf," he said. De la Cruz described Gallardo as one of the bravest priests in the diocese.
"A few days ago we heard Fr. Gallardo over the radio appealing to the authorities to stop the military operations, saying that they would die from fear and not bullets, but we knew that was not the real Gallardo," the bishop said in Taglish.
"When we received his body yesterday, we knew that he did not die from fear. He died because of the bullets of the Abu Sayyaf," he said, his voice echoing inside the cathedral while hundreds of Basilanos listened intently to the homily.
Last embrace
According to Arcillas, her daughter Editha has been working as a schoolteacher in Tuburan for more than 30 years. The mother remembered the last time she saw her daughter alive. "We slept together before she left our house in Pasonanca. She even gave me P100 to buy snacks. We embraced before she left. I even requested her to stay behind, but she insisted on leaving because they were preparing for the graduation," Arcillas said.
"I hope they (the rebels) will pay for this crime...Innocent children were taken and kept hostage for (44) days," said De la Cruz. "We hope the military continues running after the Abu Sayyaf so that what we call this Abu Sayyaf menace in Basilan will be over," he said.
In hospital
The four victims were slaughtered when the military launched a rescue operation for the group of 28 captives in Camp Abdurazzak where they had been kept for more than 40 days. Troops stumbled upon the rebels by a river crossing Wednesday and both sides opened fire.
Nine children and six teachers were rescued, according to the military. Many of the hostages were children seized from two schools in Basilan province 44 days earlier. There was no immediate word on the fate of the other 10 hostages, mostly children.
Five of the rescued hostages were injured, one seriously. They were taken by helicopter to a military hospital on Wednesday night for treatment. There were no immediate details of rebel or military casualties. Three of the injured have now been operated on. "We cannot promise they are safe at the moment but...we are still observing their condition," said Dr. Felix Tayo.
'Drop!'
Marissa Ante, a 23-year-old teacher rescued in the military operation, said the military had staged a lightning raid on about 60 black-clad Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were scrambling with the hostages. "The military arrived and shouted 'drop' and we all pounced on the ground and then gunfire ensued," she said. "Most of us crawled to the military side."
"I saw at least one Abu Sayyaf gunman hit by gunfire," she said. The Basilan hostages were among 53 people seized by the rebels on March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later released some captives, but they claimed to have beheaded two teachers, Democrito and Reynaldo Rubio, two weeks ago--a claim proven false when Democrito was found dead and Rubio was rescued. The rescued hostages said they had been taken from Camp Abdurrazak in Sumisip, Basilan, on Saturday and forced to walk each night through forest trails.
Walking in circles
Ante said that before the rescue on Tuesday, the hostages were "taken around in circles" in thick jungles for four days by the gunmen after their camp came under attack from the military. Most of the hostages were bruised and had cuts on their feet.
"When we left the camp there were already explosions around it," said Criselda Selvano, a sixth grader. "They moved us from place to place during the night. Sometimes we slept under the trees, and when it rained we got wet."
'I'm free'
Marissa Rante said the captives only ate one meal a day in the rebel camp and conditions had been tough. She was overjoyed with her first day of freedom. Hostages said Wednesday's shootings took place when the rebels were moving their captives. Rante said the group was taking them to nearby Jolo Island, where the guerrillas are also holding 21 mostly foreign hostages. This has not been confirmed.
"The day we were supposed to go to Jolo, we stayed for a while at...Isabela town, that's where the clash happened at 3 o'clock yesterday," she said. "Many people were wounded, I don't know how I escaped, we dropped to the ground," Rante added. "I am happy. I am happy that I am free." With reports from Inquirer wires
May 6, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Pope appeals to Abu Sayyaf to release all their hostages,
Requiem mass for slain priest this afternoon VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul expressed deep concern on Thursday over violence in the Philippines involving Muslim rebels and urged them to release all hostages they are holding.
"I appeal to all involved in the conflict in the region to renounce the ways of violence which have caused so much suffering to the civilian population and to return to peaceful negotiation in order to achieve a just solution respectful of the rights of all," the Pope said.
The 79-year-old Pope, who has visited Asia's largest Catholic country twice, made his appeal in a telegram to the head of the Philippines' Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"My thoughts also turn to the injured and the remaining hostages and I ask their captors to release them as soon as possible," the Pope said.
The Pontiff said he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in the southern Philippines and "greatly saddened" by news of the killing of various hostages.
He mentioned the death of Fr. Ruel Gallardo, a Roman Catholic priest killed in a clash between Muslim rebels and government troops on the island of Basilan earlier this week.
The Abu Sayyaf (Father of the Sword) rebels are still holding 21 mainly foreign hostages on another island, Jolo.
The Jolo hostages are 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese, and a Filipina.
The Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the Philippines. The larger group is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Peace
ZAMBOANGA CITY --"The blood of martyrdom cries for peace and reconciliation, not hatred and revenge."
This was the sentiment expressed by Claretian priest and Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) Chairman Fr. Angel Calvo over the execution of fellow missionary Fr. Roel Gallardo last Wednesday by Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Isabela, Basilan province.
Although several priests have been kidnapped in Basilan in the past years, Fr. Gallardo was the first to be killed by extremists, and he was tortured along with other kidnap victims. The Claretians, Fr. Calvo said, have been serving in Basilan since 1951.
Fr. Gallardo's remains will arrive from Isabela, Basilan, this morning and will lie at the Claret Formation Center on Ruste Drive, San Jose St.
Fr. Calvo urged Christians and Muslims to attend a requiem mass and religious service for the dead priest at 3 p.m. today, Saturday, at the Claret Parish Church.
"I invite people of goodwill to come and pay their last respects to Fr. Gallardo, and pray together for peace and reconciliation in Basilan and in Mindanao," he said.
An all-night vigil will follow the mass. Fr, Gallardo's remains will be flown to Manila the following day. He will be buried at the Claretian community cemetery in Quezon City after a visit to his hometown in Zambales..
Fr. Gallardo, 34 , was ordained in Manila in 1996.
He had been serving as parish priest and director of the Tumahunong Parish High School since June, 1999, an assignment he volunteered fordespite the fact that the area was declared dangerous after the school's building was burned by rebels last year.
Before Tumahbong, he served in Surabay and Tungawan towns in Zamboanga del Sur and Bunguiao, this city.
"He was a quiet, humble and very prayerful," Fr. Calvo described Fr. Gallardo. "He was at peace with himself."
Only God can take away human life, which is sacred to Christians, Fr. Calvo said. "Anything done against a man's life, especially torture, is evil and must be deplored and condemned," he added.
Calvo said that in Christian tradition, martyrdom is a challenge to the faithful and an encouragement to the Church to pursue the cause for which the blood was shed.
Fr. Gallardo's death, he said, should encourage people of goodwill to serve peace and justice to "grow in life, not in hatred and revenge." (Vic P. Arevalo)
Pimentel
Senator Aquilino 'Nene' Pimentel, a native of Mindanao, asked President Estrada yesterday to mount a "full-scale war to exterminate the Abu Sayyaf rebel group to attain "permanent peace and progress in the South.
He also called for a federal system, the more effectively to hasten development "not only inMindanao but elsewhere in the republic."
"Mindanao is bleeding," lamented Pimentel at the "Friday Balitaan" forum at the Rembrandt Hotel in Quezon City. "The bloodletting must be stopped, and no less than President Estrada must assert a wise, assertive step to stop the blood bath."
Pimentel asked Mr. Estrada to "heed the call for a ceasefire in Mindanao after a real government victory over the Abu Sayyaf and other rebellious groups as a precondition to peace and progress.
No ransom
PRETORIA (AFP) - The South African government will oppose the payment of a ransom for the release of 21 hostages, including two South Africans, being held by Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines, a senior official said Thursday.
Jerry Matsila, the deputy director general of foreign affairs, also reiterated government concerns that force should not be used to free the hostages.
Matsila told reporters in Pretoria that the government was "principally opposed to ransom payments."
"If the captors were paid the 18 million rand ransom they are rumored to be demanding, it will only encourage others to do the same," he said.
Task force
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Diplomats from France, Finland, and Germany will set up a joint task force to help the Manila government free a group of tourists held hostage by Islamic rebels in the Philippines, officials said on Thursday.
Two Finnish, two French, and three German citizens are among the 21 hostages seized by guerrillas on April 23 at a Malaysian resort and taken to the southern Philippines. The others are 10 Malaysians, two South Africans, a Lebanese, and a Filipina.
The diplomatic initiative came amid reports that the rebels had split the hostages into small groups and were trying to break through a cordon of troops around their jungle hideout.
"Finland, France, and Germany have decided to establish a joint task force to assist the Philippine government in their efforts to resolve the hostage crisis," Finland's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Finland's special envoy Holger Rotkirch arrived in Manila earlier on Thursday and was scheduled to meet his French and German counterparts to discuss the task force, the ministry said.
A letter from the foreign ministers of the European countries was delivered to Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon emphasizing the importance of finding a peaceful solution to the crisis and offering the help of additional mediators.
Finland said it would also appeal to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) for assistance in resolving the crisis.
28 hostages
May 6, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 'They fed us twice only when Robin came,' by Julie Alipala-Inot, PDI Mindanao Bureau,
[Excerpts] ISABELA, Basilan
Romela Mendoza, one of the 15 hostages who were rescued.
Ricardo Gregorio, 15
Claretian schoolteacher Marissa Rante
Government troops on Wednesday rescued 15 of 28 hostages the Abu Sayyaf had been holding since March 20 in Basilan.
Survivors said the rebels executed Gallardo and three other hostages, teachers Ruben Democrito, Editha Lumome and Annabelle Mendoza..
Captors earlier had beaten and tortured the Roman Catholic priest, including pulling out his toenails, the freed hostages said.
According to the crisis management committee in Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf originally took 31 hostages on March 20. The confirmed killing of four left a total of 27 hostages.
Of the 27 left, 16 were rescued Wednesday: school principal Reynaldo Rubio, teachers Marissa Rante, Rosebert Ajon, Lydda Ajon, Rodolfo Irong, students Joan Barnido, Emelyn Cachuela, Chritiney Diva, Jennely Emo, Maria Christina Francisco, Ricardo Gregorio, Romela Mendoza, Crise;da Silvanp, Chary Vergara, Christine Vergara and Geraldine Melo.
Eleven are still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf: teachers Teresita Academia, Nelson Enriquez, Erlinda Manuel, Dante Uban, students Joselle de la Torre, Ryan Laputan, Billy James Lariosa, Ian Rey Lucip, Jul Padrique, Rey Lios Pai and Faye de la Torre.
Fr. Edgar Rivero, who replaced Gallardo as aprish priest of Tumahubong, said he did not know who painted the red crosses. "But they surely speak of the silent protest against the atrocities inflicted on the Christian community here," he said.
Basilan Bishop Romulo de la Cruz
"My brother's blood has been wasted, so the government should not stop its operations," said SPO4 Rodolfo Democrito, elder brother of slain hostage teacher Ruben Democrito.
"We need justice for my (elder) sister (nnabelle Mendoza)." said Ernesto Mendoza.
Mendoza's other sister, Romela, was among those rescued.
Richard Lumome, son of slain teacher Editha Lumome,
May 7, 2000, AP Online, Philippine Town Mourns Slain Priest
CASTILLEJOS, Philippines (AP) -- Hundreds of people lined the main road of the farming town of Castillejos on Sunday, tossing flowers at a hearse carrying the remains of a Roman Catholic priest taken hostage and then killed by Muslim rebels.
Mourners tied purple and black ribbons on trees and lamp posts along the road to the town church and hung up banners reading, "Justice for Father Rhoel Gallardo." They waited for as long as four hours for a 50-vehicle caravan carrying Gallardo's casket.
At the church, elderly women wept openly as they viewed Gallardo's body. Mourners formed a line 500 yards long on both sides of the casket.
Gallardo was among about 50 people, mostly schoolchildren, seized in Basilan province in March by separatist Abu Sayyaf rebels trying to escape from an army attack. The rebels released some hostages, but held Gallardo and 26 others for more than six weeks.
Then, on Wednesday, soldiers ran across the rebels trying to flee with their captives. The two groups got into a firefight at a river crossing in the town of Lantawan.
Fifteen of the hostages were rescued, but Gallardo and three teachers were killed -- all shot in the head at close range, apparently by the rebels. Basilan residents, particularly the Catholic community, were outraged by the killings.
Gallardo, 34, was regularly beaten while in captivity, other hostages said. The rebels made him wear dark glasses to cover a black eye when he was presented to a group of visiting journalists. An examination of his body showed that some of his toenails had been pulled out.
In Castillejos, Gallardo's father, Dominador, appealed to President Joseph Estrada not to stop the military operation to rescue the remaining hostages and another group of 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists, seized from a Malaysian resort April 23.
Gallardo belonged to the Claretian order. In Los Angeles, the Rev. Art Gramaje, a fellow Claretian who lived in the same religious community in Manila with Gallardo in 1992, described the Filipino priest as a quiet, unassuming man.
"He had a good heart," Gramaje said. "He was just a regular guy wanting to serve the people."
Gallardo has been called a martyr, but "he wasn't looking for anything like that," Gramaje said. "He was a victim of a great evil."
After the viewing, Gallardo's body was moved to his family's residence in a half-mile-long procession. His remains are to be transferred to the Claretian mission house in Quezon City, a Manila suburb, on Tuesday.
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
nine plus 15 plus the four dead makes for 28May 7, 2000, Manila Bulletin, Siazon assures European envoys.
[Excerpt:]
Basilan hostages
Basilan Bishop Ramon de la Cruz expressed concern over the fate of the nine hostages who were captured by the extremist rebels Abu Sayyaf in Basilan last March 20.
"We hope and pray they are still alive," De la Cruz said in a message sent to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), following the killing of a Claretian priest and three other hostages by the Abu Sayyaf.
"We continue to wait for the seven children and two female teachers who are still unaccounted for," he added.
Bishop De la Cruz condemned the torture and killing of Fr. Roel Gallardo and three female teachers by the Abu Sayyaf captors as they fled an assault by government troops.
"The medico-legal investigation uncovered that Fr. Roel was tortured two weeks before, when the nails of his big toes were forcefully removed as a disciplinary act by the Abu Sayyaf," he said.
The children and other hostages narrated that they heard the cries of Gallardo, who showed signs of suffering from his ordeal. Children were treated well but the male hostages received beatings from the Abu Sayyaf.
"He was punched to his face because he had asked where they had taken Marissa Rante, a Claret teacher," the bishop said.
The remains of Gallardo were brought to the Sta. Isabel Cathedral in Isabela, Basilan, where they have been lying since May 3. They will be brought to his hometown in Castillejos, Zambales, today for a wake at the family residence.
On Tuesday, his body will be brought to the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Teachers Village, Diliman, Quezon City, for a funeral mass at 6 a.m. The burial has been set for May 10 at the Himlayang Pilipino after an 8:30 a.m. mass.
Gallardo, 34, was a parish priest of the San Vicente Ferrer parish in Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan. He was also a director of the Claret School of Tumahubong, from which the Abu Sayyaf seized the teachers and school children last March 20. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
May 11, 2000, Filipino Reporter, Gov't frees 15 hostages: Priest, 3 others killed in clash,
Catholic priest Father Roel Gallardo was killed, along with three other hostages, in an encounter between their Abu Sayyaf Group captors and government troops that flushed the rebels out of a school building in Tumahubong, Basilan, Malacaang reported Thursday.
"This is a deplorable act," Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr. said during an emergency press briefing called at 9:15 p.m. at the Kalayaan Hall, adding that the identities of the three other fatalities were still unknown.
Puno said the confirmation that Fr. Gallardo's body had been found at the scene of the battle at Claret School in Tumahubong was received by Malacaang at 9:03 p.m.
He added that a total of 15 of the 27 hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf had been freed and are now in the custody of government authorities.
Five of the 15 rescued were wounded in the crossfire and were identified as Robert Ahon, Christy Vergara, Jennifer Imo, Lydia Ahon, and Emelyn Catchuela. They are now being treated at local hospitals.
"Ten are still out there and we hope that they (Abu Sayyaf) will treat them fairly. These are innocent civilians," Puno said.
The 10 other freed hostages were Rodolfo Iran, Maria Christina Francisco, Reynaldo Rubio, Joan Bernardo, Rowena Mendoza, Kristen Diva, Charry Vergara, Criselda Selvana, Ricardo Gregorio, and Marasi Saute.
They are now in the custody of government authorities.
15 rescued
Officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced that they have rescued 15 of the 29 civilians in Lantawan, Basilan, who were held hostage by members of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the nearby Sumisip town, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City said.
In a report to AFP chief of staff Gen. Angelo T. Reyes, Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, Southern Command (Southcom) chief based in Zamboanga City, said that as of 7:30 p.m., 15 hostages had been rescued by elements of the 1st Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Narciso Abaya in a remote barangay in Lantawan town.
With the 15, however, were the bodies of four persons, believed to be among the hostages held captive in Sumisip, Basilan, by the Abu Sayyaf.
Villanueva assured that the military will continue combing the hinterlands of Lantawan town in search of the remaining hostages.
Immediately after the rescue operations, supporting elements from the Philippine Army Special Operations Command (Socom) provided security to the 15 hostages on their way to Basilan Provincial Capitol.
Villanueva said that the 15 hostages, mostly women and children, were in good health condition when rescued by Army troopers.
Villanueva said military operations will continue against the Abu Sayyaf members led by Khaddafi Janjalani until the 15 other kidnap victims have been accounted for by authorities.
Southcom officials expressed belief that the 15 rescued victims were left behind by the escaping Abu Sayyaf members who have been subjected to large-scale military operations from their hideout at Camp Abdujarak in Sumisip, Basilan more than a week ago.
Operating elements from the Philippine Marines and Philippine Army have overran Camp Abdujarak but failed to locate the 29 hostages.
Military authorities expressed belief that the terrorists escaped through the tunnels they constructed at Camp Abdujarak.
2 killed?
Two foreign hostages died during a predawn clash Wednesday between military troops and Muslim rebels who are holding 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists, on Jolo Island in the southern Philippines, guerrilla leaders said.
Military officials said they had no knowledge of any hostage fatalities, and said the claim may have been propaganda by the extremist Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The clash apparently occurred when the hostages were being transferred to another location, officials said.
Troops seized the bamboo hut where the hostages had been held, but found no one inside. No bloodstains were evident inside the hut, and medicines brought by a doctor on Monday were left behind, police said.
Meanwhile, at least 15 of a separate group of 27 hostages who had been held by other Abu Sayyaf rebels in neighboring Basilan province were rescued Wednesday, said Brig. Gen. Narciso Abaya of the military's Southern Command. Five of the hostages were injured, he said.
Military sources said some of the other hostages were killed by the fleeing guerrillas.
Soldiers spotted the rebels fording a stream just five kilometers (three miles) from downtown Isabela, Basilan's capital, officials said. The hostages, who included 22 children, were kidnapped March 20 from two schools.
The rebels offered earlier Wednesday to release all their captives if the military halts its pursuit of them.
Troops overran their mountain stronghold over the weekend but found no hostages.
On Jolo, fighting between soldiers and Abu Sayyaf rebels continued Wednesday after heavily armed guerrillas attempted to escape from an encirclement by the military. At least two soldiers were killed and six injured, officials said.
Commander Robot, an Abu Sayyaf leader, claimed in a telephone interview with the local ABS-CBN radio network that a white foreign man had been accidentally shot in the fighting and a white foreign woman had died of a heart attack.
He apologized to their families and said it was not the rebels' doing.
Another rebel leader, Abu Escobar, later repeated the claim in a call to another radio station and said the rebels would proceed with a previous threat to behead two foreign hostages if the military does not pull back from the rebels' hideout.
Col. Ernesto de Guzman of the military's Southern Command said the troops would stay put.
"We will not move in and we will not move out," he said.
He said the overnight fighting was very far from where the hostages are believed held.
The 21 hostages were kidnapped April 23 from a Malaysian diving resort and brought to a bamboo hut in the hills of Talipao on Jolo, about one hour away by boat.
The hostages have pleaded to the government to halt military operations in the area.
In announcing their threat Tuesday to behead two of the foreign tourists, Escobar said the troops had moved so close to the rebel hideout that the kidnappers could see them.
Nur Misuari, the government's hostage negotiator, said the rebels have refused to begin formal talks unless the troops are moved from the area. He also urged a halt to the military operations.
"I want only peaceful means because I believe this is more effective in getting them released safely than military means," said Misuari, a former Muslim rebel leader.
Misuari said he had conflicting reports that the two hostages were dead or merely injured.
Several foreign countries have offered to help negotiate, but the Philippine Government said Wednesday it could take care of it alone.
"We've asked them to please give us the opportunity to handle the problem," Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said. If needed, he said, "we will get their advice and we will get whatever assistance they can give us. But the ball is in our court at this time."
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of two groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the Philippines' impoverished Mindanao region, home of the country's Muslim minority.
The other group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), claimed responsibility for a number of bomb explosions in the southern Philippines Wednesday that killed at least four and injured dozens.
The Jolo hostages include tourists from Germany, France, South Africa, Finland and Lebanon, as well as resort workers from the Philippines and Malaysia.
Several have written letters to their embassies asking them to pressure the Philippine Government to speed up negotiations and remove the troops to prevent further clashes and let the kidnappers obtain food.
Several journalists who accompanied a doctor to the simple bamboo hut Monday were able to interview the hostages, who complained of food shortages, fevers and infections. The doctor later reported that most of the hostages appeared exhausted and dehydrated. She said she told the rebels that two captives need to be hospitalized, but the rebels did not immediately agree.
President Joseph Estrada authorized Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to get the children who have been held as hostages by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and to deliver them back to their families.
May 19, 2000, National Catholic Reporter, Four hostages die in rescue operation.
Fifteen hostages seized by the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines were freed on the 12th day of a military rescue operation, but four hostages died, including a Claretian priest.
The remains of Fr. Rhoel Gallardo, pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Tumahubong, Basilan, were among four battered bodies recovered May 3 by the military, Fr. Martin Jumoad said.
The chancellor of Isabela prelature comprising Basilan province received the bodies of Gallardo, a male and two woman teachers at a funeral home 10 kilometers outside the capital town of Isabela. One of the women was a teacher at the Claretian School of Tumahubong.
Jumoad rejected television news reports that the dead were killed "by stray bullets in the crossfire" saying, "These were brutal executions."
On April 22, the military attacked Abu Sayyaf's Camp Abdurajak where the extremists held 29 of some 50 hostages they seized from Tumahubong on March 20. The other hostages had been freed.
The military assault to rescue the remaining hostages was hampered by heavy rains and mines in the periphery of the fort.
Ten other hostages remain with the Abu Sayyaf group. Bishop Romulo de la Cruz of Isabela said that one other woman teacher reportedly seized in March has not been seen in the camp by the hostages. Survivors have also not seen two male teachers since the Abu Sayyaf group announced their execution on April 19.
March 30, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Trail of beheadings,
MANILA, Philippines --As a "birthday gift" to then President Joseph Estrada, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded hostages Dante Uban and Nelson Enriquez on April 19, 2000. The soldiers-turned-teachers were among 53 civilians abducted from two schools in Basilan the previous month.
The beheading took place after demands, including the release of three Muslims imprisoned in the United States, were not met. The bodies were unearthed three weeks later.
In 2001, the bandit group threatened to decapitate American Jeffrey Schilling as a gift to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on her 54th birthday on April 5 after the US and Philippine governments rejected their demand for a $10-million ransom.
In response, the President ordered soldiers to attack the kidnappers of Schilling, who was seized on Aug. 28, 2000, in Patikul on Jolo Island. On April 12, 2001, soldiers rescued the American.
Another American hostage was not as lucky. On June 12, 2001, the Abu Sayyaf cut the head of Guillermo Sobero as an "Independence Day gift" to the President. Sobero was one of 20 persons abducted from Dos Palmas resort in Palawan on May 27, 2001.
Last year, the Abu Sayyaf threatened to kill ABS-CBN cameraman Angelo Valderama, who was abducted together with broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and fellow cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion in Sulu on June 8, 2008.
Valderama was released on June 12, reportedly after P2 million in ransom was paid. Drilon and Encarnacion were freed on June 17 on "purely humanitarian grounds."
Cyril L. Bonabente, INQUIRER Research
41 total
November 22, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Is this any way to treat our teachers?
GABRIEL CANIZARES was by no means the first teacher in the Philippines to be abducted and beheaded.
On May 6, 2000, the headless bodies of teachers Dante Uban and Nelson Enriquez of Sinangkapan High School and Sinangkapan Elementary School, respectively, were found in Basilan. They were reportedly beheaded as the Abu Sayyaf's "birthday gift" to then President Joseph Estrada.
Kidnapping teachers for ransom doesn't make sense. Everybody knows teachers barely make enough to tide them over until the next paycheck. How can their families be expected to afford the ransom?
Gabriel Canizares was the family's breadwinner. It was impossible for his parents and siblings to raise the P2 million demanded by his abductors, even if they begged, stole and borrowed.
In a decent society, civilians are not attacked purposely even in times of war. Teachers are civilians. On top of that, they are civilians with a mission, which is to guide the young through the maze that leads to a vault of values that human beings need to get along with one another, to a chest of stories, art, music and other treasures that make life worth the stay and, if he is a good teacher, to a well of wisdom.
Don’t terrorists have children who need teachers? Or have they stopped sending their young to school because they think all their children need is hands-on training on how to fire a gun or sever a head?
The following list, which goes back to the year 2000 only, reveals that teachers in Mindanao have been easy prey. Read it and weep.
2000: 37 reported victims
March—Two teachers were abducted by gunmen who barged into a public school building in the village of Kabaluay on the outskirts of southern Zamboanga City, police said.
March 9—Teachers Leticia Calo and Maybelyn (Nevelyn) Apolinario were abducted by four gunmen. They were rescued March 22.
March 14—Teacher Cecille Fermace was abducted outside a public elementary school in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, and taken away on a motor boat. Another teacher was also seized but managed to escape, according to police. Fermace was released on March 17.
March 15—Unidentified men in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao took Misuari Sipe, an instructor of the Cotabato City Polytechnic College.
March 20-22—Teachers were abducted from four schools in Basilan.
Seized at the Tumahubong East Elementary School were school supervisor Juanito Arellano and teachers Nurhaida Katoh, Saida Sahirin, Nita Abajud, Macario Mandun, Abubakar Denil, Sahijain Saijan and Haiba Muslimin.
Abducted at the Sinangkapan Elementary School in Tuburan town were 21 pupils and teachers Nelson Enriquez, Laida Adjun, Teresita Academia, Erlinda Manuel, Editha Lumome and Albert Sahao.
At the Sinangkapan National High School, the rebels seized teachers Ruben Democrito, Rodolfo Irong and Dante Uban.
They also abducted at the Claret High School Fr. Roel Gallardo, school director and parish priest; Reynaldo Rubio, principal; and teachers Winifer Silorio, Annabel Mendoza and Marissa Rante.
April 19—Dante Uban and Nelson Enriquez were believed beheaded as the Abu Sayyaf’s “birthday gift” to President Joseph Estrada. Their headless bodies were found on May 6.
May 3—The military rescued six kidnapped teachers. Three others were killed. Survivors said the rebels executed Claret’s Gallardo and Mendoza, Sinangkapan High School teacher Democrito and Sinangkapan Elementary School teacher Lumome.
July—Sinangkapan Elementary School teachers Academia and Manuel were released by the Abu Sayyaf.
June 19—Public school teachers Edna Quimeging and Elizabeth Porfirio were kidnapped in Kalawit, Zamboanga del Norte. They were rescued on Aug. 5.
July 13—Armed men snatched public school teachers Annalyn Cruz, Daisylyn Camacho and Nelson Prantar in a coastal village of Naga, Zamboanga del Sur. Camacho and Cruz were released on Aug. 23. At dawn on July 23, Prantar escaped from his kidnappers.
Aug. 15—Maria Teresa Raz was freed unharmed. She was reportedly kidnapped in Basilan (no information on when she was abducted).
Aug. 23—Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched Marissa Adjad at the Sulu School of Arts and Trade in Talipao.
Oct. 14—Arvia Abrera was kidnapped by armed men in Basilan.
2002: 4 reported victims
Sept. 13—Luzvillar Castillon, Editha Buntilao, Emma Karaan and Salvacion Miken, teachers at the Mindanao State University (MSU) Integrated Laboratory School, were seized by four armed men in Marawi. They were released on Sept. 25.
2003: 1 reported victim
Feb. 26—Rhede Nelson Manulat, a professor at the MSU, was abducted in Marawi City.
2005: At least 10 victims
April 21—14 people, mostly teachers and students of MSU, were kidnapped while on their way to Marawi City. They were rescued eight hours later.
Dec. 2—Couple Felipe and Helen Lacunias, teachers at the Lanao National College of Arts and Trade in Marawi City, were abducted by two armed men. Moro guerrillas and government forces rescued them on Dec. 4 in Piagapo, Lanao del Sur.
2008: 23 reported victims
Jan. 15—Teacher Omar Taup was snatched by armed men who shot and killed Oblate priest Rey Roda in Barangay Tabawan, South Ubian town. Taup was released sometime in March.
June 8—MSU professor Octavio Dinampo was abducted in Sulu, together with broadcast journalist Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN and her two cameramen. Dinampo was freed June 17.
June 26—21 MSU teachers were kidnapped, but 20 were freed shortly after. One was released in December.
2009: 7 reported victims
Jan. 23—Landang Gua Elementary School teachers Janette de los Reyes, Rafael Mayonado and Freires Quizon were abducted by bandits on their way to work and taken to Basilan. They were freed on May 27.
March 13—Jocelyn Enriquez, Jocelyn Inion and Noemi Mandi were on a motor boat from Bangkaw Bangkaw Elementary School en route to Naga town when abducted by armed men. They were released on Sept. 23.
Oct. 19—Gabriel Canizares was seized. On Nov. 9, Canizares’ severed head, stuffed in his own backpack, was found outside a gasoline station in Jolo.
Compiled by Schatzi Quodala, Inquirer Research
(Source: Inquirer Archives)
May 8, 2000, Newsweek Magazine, Trouble in Paradise, by Marites D. Vitug, T. J. Tan,
The raiders moored their fishing boat off the tiny Malaysian island's most secluded corner, a preserve for nesting sea turtles. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles and a bazooka, the six fatigue-clad men stealthily crossed the sand to Sipadan Island Resort's dining hall.
Inside, a dozen vacationers were just sitting down to Easter Sunday dinner after a nearly perfect day of diving. Then the gunmen burst in. "Be quiet or we will shoot you all!" one intruder warned in English, and someone echoed the threat in Malay. The guests and staff obeyed, hopelessly unprepared for trouble. Armed attacks tend to be the last thing on anyone's mind in this unspoiled bit of paradise. The late Jacques Cousteau once declared Sipadan's coral reef to be "one of the 10 wonders of the underwater world." Scant minutes after the attack began, the raiders sailed north, toward the nearby Philippines, with 21 hostages aboard, including six resort employees, four members of the Malaysian Wildlife Department and a local police officer--as well as two South Africans, a Lebanese, three Germans, two Finns and two French travelers. (An American couple managed to escape.) Before leaving, the kidnappers scrawled a name in blue ink on one wall of the dining hall: ABU SAYYAF.
The shock forces of Abu Sayyaf had struck again--in spades. In the past, the Islamic splinter group's fighters always kept their kidnappings, holdups and terrorist attacks strictly confined to their home turf, in the southern Philippines. Last week's unprecedented raid on a Malaysian target, an hour's sail south of Philippine waters, showed that Abu Sayyaf's members are ready to break all the old rules in the name of carving their own Islamic state out of Philippine soil. As if the embattled Philippine president, Joseph Estrada, needed to be told: the militants have been holding about 30 Filipino hostages, including a parish priest and 17 schoolchildren, since March 20. On April 19, four days before the Easter raid, the rebels announced that they had beheaded two hostages as a "birthday gift" to the president as he turned 63.
The history of Abu Sayyaf (Arabic for "Bearer of the Sword") is brief but bloodsoaked. Other Islamic separatists denounce its vicious ideology and tactics as "un-Islamic and evil." The extremist group was founded in 1991 by Abdujarak Abubakar Janjalani, a Libya-trained preacher who had grown up on the southern Philippine island of Basilan. A spellbinding speaker with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Qur'an, he quickly attracted a small army of eager young recruits with promises of "pure" Islamic rule. But his followers were far outnumbered by the deadly enemies they made in the early '90s by kidnapping Roman Catholic priests and nuns for ransom and attacking movie theaters and churches with hand grenades.
Manila hit back hard. Counterinsurgency forces pounded the rebels while physicians, dentists and teachers conducted a successful hearts-and- minds campaign among Basilan's desperately poor civilians. Meanwhile, in 1996, the government made peace with the country's main rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), creating an autonomous Muslim region on the island of Mindanao. A breakaway group, the 15,000- strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is still fighting--but wants no part of Abu Sayyaf. After Janjalani died in a police shoot-out in 1998, his group was thought to be virtually out of business.
No such luck. The founder's younger brother, Khaddafi Janjalani, quietly managed to rebuild a ragtag but dangerous fighting force of roughly 200 armed men. On March 20 the group made a spectacular comeback, attacking an Army detachment and four schools in Basilan. "They came out of the woodwork," says Prof. Mehol Sadain, an Islamic- studies expert at the University of the Philippines. The rebels grabbed about 50 civilian hostages and began issuing demands for such basics as rice and blankets. But Sadain believes that the raid's real objective was to capture attention, especially from overseas Islamic militants with cash to donate.
The kidnappers got the publicity they sought. The government even sent in the negotiator they asked for, the action-movie swashbuckler Robin Padilla, who posed for pictures with the captors and persuaded them to free two of the schoolhouse hostages. But a local group of anti-rebel vigilantes outdid him by snatching nearly a dozen members of Khaddafi Janjalani's family, including his 1-year-old daughter, his mother and his pregnant wife. Abu Sayyaf freed 18 hostages, and Janjalani got back his wife and daughter--but the vigilantes kept nine other relatives. Janjalani angrily issued a list of new demands, notably the release of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and his spiritual leader, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, imprisoned for conspiracy in the United States. The Abu Sayyaf leader warned Estrada in a letter: "The fate of the parish priest, teachers and schoolchildren lies in your decision as the head of state."
The government has been unable to reclaim the initiative. "We do not negotiate with terrorist movements," insisted the Defense secretary, Orlando Mercado, as other senior officials tried and failed to win a deal for the hostages' freedom. Abu Sayyaf announced the execution of two hostages from the schoolhouse raids and warned that others would die "for every negative reaction" to the group's demands. On April 22, three days after that warning, Estrada launched an all-out assault on Janjalani's stronghold, sending in helicopters, bombers and 1,500 government troops.
The rebels hit the Malaysian island resort the next day. Late last week the victims were reported to be alive, but weak and hungry. Their captors were said to have dispersed them to three separate locations in the Sulu Archipelago, demanding ransom variously reported as $731,000 or $2.63 million. The government insists it won't pay, no matter what the sum may be. Meanwhile the region's future is effectively being held hostage by Janjalani and his followers. As long as they run free, they will keep scaring away investors and tourists. Too bad for the innocent people who live there. Their land has all the makings of a paradise.
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