Abus behead 4 more

Abu Sayyaf bandits beheaded yesterday four more of the captives they abducted from Lamitan town in Basilan on Thursday, according to police and local officials.

Lamitan Mayor Inocente Ramos said four more bodies, one of them of a town councilor, were found yesterday in addition to the four bodies found on Friday. Another headless body of a man was also recovered but authorities could not determine if he was among those abducted on Thursday.

A note was found near the headless bodies pinning responsibility for the beheadings on Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, the leader of an Abu Sayyaf faction based in Sulu.

But the military said the beheadings were perpetrated by three bandit sub-leaders, identified as Hakim Yatin, Sattar Yacub and Gani Sulaiman, all under Abu Sabaya.

Sabaya and Abu Sayyaf overall chieftain Khadafy Janjalani are still holding 21 hostages seized from a resort in Palawan last May 27 and a hospital-church compound in Lamitan several days later.

Armed Forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim said the Janjalani-Sabaya group consists of some 240 men. Calimlim said the military was closing in on the bandits, provoking the "diversionary" beheadings.

"Our troops are closing in on at least 240 men of Janjalani and Sabaya and to relieve the pressure, they attacked Lamitan. It’s a desperate move of the bandits," Calimlim said.

The Janjalani-Sabaya faction is now being pursued by government troopers whom President Arroyo ordered to crush the bandit group.

Meanwhile, the government condemned the beheadings as "desperate" and reiterated its all-out war policy against the Muslim extremists.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the Cabinet oversight committee (COC) on internal security was briefed about the beheadings on Friday.

The COC determined there had been a faulty deployment of Citizens Armed Forces Geographic Units (CAFGUs) and ordered the military to step up its rational deployment in platoon size.

In Basilan, police and civilian volunteers chanced on the bodies in forested areas and took them to the Lamitan funeral parlor where hundreds of people showed up to try to identify the deceased.

"Everybody is very, very sad about this," town mayor Ramos said. "There should be a non-stop operation. This Abu Sayyaf group must be neutralized at the soonest possible time before other innocent civilians fall helplessly into bandit hands."

Ramos said three of the new decapitated bodies were recovered in Barangay Luuk and the other one in Barangay Limuton.

They were identified as Edgardo Randy Revilla, a barangay councilor, Alexander Ramirez, Rodolfo Francisco and Lito Esteban.

On Friday, the bandits beheaded five other victims, identified as Ronald Rojas, Feliciano Ramones, Elmer Natalaray, Entiquiano Cristobal and Alvin Ramirez.

The heads of the four victims found on Saturday were recovered near the victims’ bodies and a blood-stained white shirt with the handwritten note.

The note read: "Commander Robot. Ako ang nag-happen dito sa highway at saka sa Lamitan pati sa Marta at Tagasilay at saka doon sa Lantawan, Kalibugan at doon sa Golden Harvest at saka sa Puno Lapurap at ang pumugot (I am the one who ordered (?) this at the highway and at Lamitan, also at Marta and Tagasilay and also at Lantawan, Kalibugan and at Golden Harvest and at Puno Lapurap and the one who beheaded)."

However, the military said the beheadings were done as a diversionary tactic by some 40 bandits from the Janjalani-Sabaya group.

The group swooped down on Lamitan Thursday and seized 35 people, including children, supposedly in retaliation for the ongoing government crackdown against the bandits and their supporters.

Walk into the woods

Efren Natalaray, the father of one of the victims found on Friday, said they were both seized late Thursday when some seven Abu Sayyaf bandits surrounded a neighbor’s house where they were visiting.

He said the bandits forced them out, tied their hands behind their backs and made them walk into the woods. In the darkness, he managed to escape to a coconut plantation but his son remained with the captives.

Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling said that of their 35 captives, nine were beheaded, 11 managed to escape while 15 others remain in bandit hands.

Camiling said the bandits and their 15 hostages were sighted heading toward the Sampinit mountain range in the eastern part of Basilan island.

Pursuing troops clashed with the group in Barangay Danapah in Tipo-Tipo town and killed one bandit but the rest managed to escape, Camiling added.

In a related development, Interior Secretary Jose Lina ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to take an aggressive role in the ongoing campaign against the bandits in Basilan.

Lina issued the directive to PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza in a closed-door meeting at the DILG office in Camp Crame yesterday.

Aside from routine peace and order functions, the PNP in Basilan has been relegated to support operations in the ongoing military crackdown but Lina ordered the PNP to sustain operations to arrest the bandits and their supporters.

"Now, it will be the PNP that will be taking a lead role in effecting the arrest of the bandits and their supporters with emphasis on respect for human rights," Lina said.

Police sources said the PNP will be targeting at least 168 bandit chieftains and their henchmen. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva