Jolo villagers shun fleeing Sayyaf rebels
By Faber Concepcion
Zamboanga City—Jolo
villagers, once gofers and food supporters for the Abu Sayyaf, are now shunning the
extremist rebels, fearing military reprisal.
A source close
to the rebels and a resident of a barangay at the foot of Mt. Sinumaan, in Patikul town,
said dwindling food supplies and a forced march because of the incessant military
operations prompted rebels to surrender.
An Army spokesman
said 15 more rebels, including Ghalib Andang alias Commander Robot, surrendered to
military officials on Jolo.
The 15 Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas surrendered in a remote area of Talipao, Col. Ernesto de Guzman said.
The Jolo civilian
source told The Manila Times that communities’ refusal to shelter the rebels forced
commander Radulan Sahiron, the one-armed guerrilla, and his followers to go deeper to the
jungles, said the source who arrived in this city Sunday.
Lack of food,
shelter and medical aid, the source added, has led to wounds sustained during bombardment
and clashes to fester.
Sahirun is alive
contrary to military reports that he had died from loss of blood during earlier bombing
operations in Jolo, said the source.
“But he now
has only seven men with him,” the source stressed.
It was Sahirun’s
deputy commander, Abdun, who was killed in the bombardment, he revealed.
Sahirun was
treated with herbal medicine by an indigenous “doctor,” the source said, adding
that the rebel leader was safe in his new hideout, near a ravine in an isolated village.
“He is
suffering from exposure because the villagers do not want them (guerrillas) in their
homes,” the source told The Times. “He has scrubs and herbs for the bullet wound
on his left thigh, but nothing else.”
Sahirun’s
group was able to escape the military, he added, by passing through “a secret passage”
in the forests of Barangay Tugas, near the border of Danag and Taglibi villages.
The source said
Andang and his fellow commander, Mujib Susukan, fled towards Mt. Mahala.
Surrenderers
A military
official, quoting five rebels who surrendered over the weekend, said Abu Sayyaf members
still holding five hostages on Jolo are tired, lack of food and want to give up.
Back to Sipadan/Pandanan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
