TOP COP CHOMPING AT THE BIT; WANTS TO TAKE OVER SAYYAF CRISIS
PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Director
General Panfilo Lacson has asked Cabinet Cluster E to allow his elite cop force to take
over the 75-day Abu Sayyaf hostage crisis.
At a press conference, Lacson said members
of the Presidential Anti-Organize Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) also have jungle combat
capabilities, having trained with the British SAS forces.
He said they were ready for a rescue
operation “in three days” should release talks fail.
The PNP chief, who had also batted for a
commando raid during an earlier hostage situation in Basilan, said police were better
suited to dealing with bandits than regular Army forces.
“I have made the recommendation but we
will leave it all up to the wisdom of the leadership and the negotiating body to decide on
that,” he said.
The Sulu crisis, he insisted, is a simple
police matter, as neutralizing kidnap-for-ransom gangs is within the PNP’s mandate.
“The moment we are given orders, I am
confident we can ably handle the situation,” Lacson said. “We are constantly on
alert and rehearsing.”
As Lacson volunteered to take on the
extemist rebels, government negotiators exchanged words with a group allegedly favored by
kidnappers.
The Sultan of Sulu and a former general
claimed to “hold the key” to the release of 20 Asian and western hostages seized
April 23 from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan. They also promised to work for the
freedom of evangelist Wilde Almeda and 12 disciples and German journalist Lorenz Andreas.
Chief government negotiator Robert
Aventajado nixed the inclusion of the two men in his panel. He said they were welcome to
work “independently,” but warned that efforts by do-gooders had only succeeded
in complicating talks with the Abu Sayyaf.
Aventajado also Almeda and the journalist
were negotiators’ “last priorities,” as he dismissed reports that some of
Almeda’s companions had been beheaded.
“They (evangelists) are so hard-headed.
But since we are Filipinos and they too are, we will help them with their condition. But
our policy would be first in, first out,” Aventajado said.
“Well, I believe in God. I believe in
religion. And I believe in prayers but with the situation there, we inhibited them from
going. It is too risky to be there. It is their fault. They have complicated it,”
Aventajado said.
He refused to respond to police claims that
leaders of an Abu Sayyaf faction have threatened to attack Commander Robot if he does not
agree to split the hostages into two groups.
Aventajado likewise denied intelligence
reports of the rise of a new Abu Sayyaf commander, Malaysian-trained Say Fol Islam, but
confirmed the brewing feud among guerrilla leaders.
Camp Crame officials said Commander Robot
and Mujib Susukan are wrangling with the Patikul and Samak groups.
-- Marian
Trinidad and Charmaine Deogracias
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