Hell breaks loose in Jolo

Hostages’ fate unknown as bombs rain on Abus

By Herbie S. Gomez,Faber Concepcion, 
Manny Marinay, and Marian Trinidad

Air Force planes dropped bombs on the jungles of Jolo yesterday and Navy ships blockaded the rugged coastline of the southern Philippine island as the military started its assault on Abu Sayyaf lairs.

The assault started 4 a.m., a few hours after President Estrada decided to give troops the green light.

Amid heavy rain, OB-10 fighter planes, F-5 jet bombers and an MG510 helicopter rocket gunship rained bombs and machine-gun fire while ground artillery fired salvos of 105 mm howitzers and mortars on Talipao and Patikul towns, where extremist rebels are holding 19 foreign and Filipino hostages.

The Army’s Special Forces, until a few days ago training with American Green Berets in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, arrived in Jolo with Scout Rangers from Cebu province.

But Armed Forces sources expressed concern that Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang, alias Commander Robot, may have escaped after being tipped off about the attack.

Government chief negotiator Robert Aventajado said Andang had called up emissaries about troop movements before the attack.

A Southern Command officer said two rebels were confirmed dead and four injured, but there were no reports of military casualties. Four injured civilians were being treated at a Jolo hospital, he added.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said troops captured 17 rebs.

ABS-CBN television reports, however, quoted sources as saying 128 persons, including seven civilians, had been killed so far in the government onslaught.

Radio station dzRH quoted an unnamed military officer as saying they had reports that American hostage Jeffrey Schilling of Oakland, California, had been killed during an escape attempt Friday and that the evangelists were executed by a rebel firing squad after the start of the military attack, an official said.

The military also received an unconfirmed report that the two French journalists had escaped.

There was no word yet on the fate of Filipino dive instructor Roland Ullah, and three Malaysians seized Sunday night from Pandanan island, Sabah. Communication lines to Jolo have been cut.

Shoot to kill

Thousands of battle troops and police commandos, backed by armored personnel carriers, massed in Jolo, the capital city of Sulu.

Helicopter gunships returned every 30 minutes to Jolo’s airport to reload and refuel.

Military officers said they have given shoot-to-kill orders against the rebels.

“Now that we have the President’s go-signal, we will give them (Abu Sayyaf) hell,” said Southern Command spokesman Col. Eliseo Posadas, adding the military would attack the Abu Sayyaf from all directions.

“Matagal ng gigil na gigil ang mga sundalo natin,” he said. (Our soldiers have long been very eager to attack).

On Friday night, the military ordered all boats to leave the capital’s port to clear the way for the arrival of military ships.

Support for an assault has grown since last Sunday, when an Abu Sayyaf rebel faction abducted three more people from a Malaysian diving resort despite their earlier pledge not to seize more hostages while negotiations were underway.

The kidnapping came just one day after the rebels released four Europeans—the last foreigners from a group of 21 people abducted April 23 from another Malaysian resort.

One week in hell

Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said it will take the composite military and police force less than a week to crush the Abu Sayyaf.

He stressed, however, that Malacañang could not guarantee the safety of the hostages.

“The safety of the hostages is our paramount consideration. But the ASG is playing cat and mouse. There are obviously threats to the life of the hostages,” Puno said.

He admitted Malacañang had no information on the hostages.

“This (attack) was a resolution we had to take regardless of the consequences. We just cannot give guarantees in this situation,” he added.

Aside from Ullah, Schilling and Almeda, the other hostages are: French journalists Jacques le Garrec and Roland Madura, Malaysians Kim Wee Cheoung, Joseph Dioquino, and Mohammad Nur Solayman; and Filipino evangelists Alvin Flores, Artemio Donoso, Joselle Subido, Fernando Solon, Dante Camuso, Nilo Bemetivo, Carlito Lape, Jun Nueva, Bienvenido Adera, Danny Cuartero and Henry Fuller.

Puno said President Estrada would go to Zamboanga City today.

As of press time, United States Embassy and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers had arrived in the southern city to meet with local officials.

Decommissioned

The military offensive delayed the expected release of two French television journalists yesterday as government negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf ceased.

In a radio broadcast, Aventajado said his group was “decommissioned” by President Estrada effective 1 a.m. yesterday.

At press time, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Angelo Reyes was still presiding over a closed-door major command conference with National Police Director General Panfilo Lacson at the Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City.

Jolo town officials said mobile phone signals were cut off and shipping companies were advised to temporarily cease operations in Sulu as the military cordoned the province. The last Zamboanga City-bound passenger vessel left Sulu around 6 p.m. Friday.

The aircraft in Jolo were the same ones used when the government launched military offensives to clear the Narciso Ramos Highway and destroy the camps of the mainstream Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) several months back.

Military sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said the OV-10s alone were armed with 500-pound bombs.

Rebels frantic

“It’s now the military’s show,” said Aventajado. “I can’t do anything anymore, although my heart still yearns for the safety of the hostages.”

In a telephone conversation with emissaries Friday night, rebel leader Ghalib “Robot” Andang was frantic because he had already detected military troops nearby, Aventajado said.

“Robot was already yelling, ‘All the military are here.’ They’re very near us,” Aventajado said.

The military had prepared for weeks for an assault on the Armed Forces were “like an arrow drawn against a bow” waiting for orders to attack.

“Obviously the arrow has been released,” he said Saturday. “We hope it can find its target.”

The rebels have threatened to attack southern Philippine cities and to behead an American hostage, Jeffrey Schilling, if there was a military assault.

Negotiations for the remaining hostages had been suspended because of fighting among Abu Sayyaf factions over the division of ransom money from the release of earlier hostages. Negotiators say more than $15 million in ransom has been paid, about $10 million of it by Libya for 10 Westerners.

Critics had warned that large ransom payments would encourage new waves of kidnappings in the troubled southern Philippines, home of the country’s Muslim minority.

More troops

Residents reported hearing two powerful bomb explosions around 7:30 a.m. from the direction of the forest areas of Talipao and Patikul towns where Abu Sayyaf factions led by Mujib Susukan and Ghalib Andang have reportedly encamped.

The Southern Command ordered the redeployment of more Marine soldiers from various areas in Mindanao to Sulu, according to Maj. Johnny Macanas, spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro.

At least 20 trucks loaded with Marine soldiers arrived at the Southern Command headquarters yesterday morning and would be sent to Sulu.

Macanas said the 4th ID alone fielded two battalions from the 1st Infantry Marine Brigade in Northern Mindanao to augment ground troops that have started blocking all possible escape routes in Sulu.

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