Abu Sayyaf to surrender in Jolo today, says AFP
By Manny B. Marinay and Charmaine Deogracias
TOP commanders
of the extremist Abu Sayyaf will surrender today in Jolo, military officials said
yesterday as they reported three more soldiers were slain Friday while pursuing rebels.
An aide of
Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Angelo Reyes, said the country’s top military
official would receive the surrenderers but refused to identify them.
Sulu provincial
police chief Candido Casimiro said two Abu Sayyaf rebels surrendered to the mayor of
Panglima Estino town early Saturday. He gave no other details.
Radio Mindanao
Network (RMN), meanwhile, quoted Brigadier General Emmanuel Teodosio, chief of the
1st Marine Brigade, as saying the surrender feeler had come from the group of Abu Sabaya.
The radio report,
however, did not categorically state if Sabaya would lead the surrendering group.
Sources close to
rebel leaders also forecast a delay in the surrender, saying negotiators were still
discussing last-minute demands from the hostage-takers, including “livelihood”
for their families.
Casualties
Col. Hilario
Atendido, spokesman for the military’s Southern Command, said the three slain
soldiers raised the government death toll to eight since a massive rescue operation was
launched three weeks ago.
About 5,000
soldiers have been deployed to various towns on sJolo island to rescue three Malaysians,
one American and one Filipino still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The government
said at least 129 Abu Sayyaf members have been killed since the rescue operation was
launched Sept. 16.
Atendido said the
hostages, including American Jeffrey Schilling, have been sighted for the first time in
more than a week, but he declined to specify the area they were seen.
Sabaya’s
rebel faction is believed to be holding Schilling. The same group is also holding three
Malaysians seized from Pandanan island, Malaysia, on the same day Ghalib Andang (Commander
Robot) released the last Western hostage taken from Sipadan island last April.
There has been no
word yet on the fate of Filipino diver Roland Ullah, the lone remaining Sipadan captive.
Dwindling
supplies
Teodosio said
Sabaya’s surrender feeler stemmed from a dwindling supply of ammunition.
His statement was
backed by sources in Camp Aguinaldo, who said arms suppliers have stopped sending weapons
to the rebel group following “strong warnings from the government.”
Military officials
said the impending surrender is proof that the AFP is winning its war against the Abu
Sayyaf.
“They have
nowhere to go,” Col. Jaime Canatoy, chief of the Civil Relations Service, said.
“Their positions had been fixed by the military and anytime soon, they will be left
with no option but to go back to the fold of the law,” Canatoy added.
In Baguio City,
Sen. Gregorio Honasan called the hostage crisis a “plain and simple police problem,”
and backed the use of force against the Abu Sayyaf.
The “military
action should have been considered since Day One,” he added.
Allowing foreign
governments and institutions to pay ransom for the hostages only encouraged residents in
villages around Abu Sayyaf lairs to help the rebels, Honasan said.
Refugees
Malaysia,
meanwhile, bared new tough policies against illegal Filipino immigrants yesterday, saying
only humanitarian concerns prevent the rounding up of refugees from Jolo, where the
military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf enters its 22nd day.
As the military
search for the extremist rebels and their five remaining hostages expanded into outlying
islands of Sulu province, on the country’s southernmost tip, the Embassy of Malaysia
in Manila said it would temporarily place those fleeing Jolo in an island off the coast of
Sabah.
“They will be
sent back to Jolo in a safe and orderly manner once the current operations by the AFP are
over,” the embassy said.
The neighboring
Southeast Asian state stressed that Malaysia is not a State Party to the 1951 Convention
and its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Malaysia also does not have any
national laws that recognize or define refugees.
--with Larry Madarang
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