Journalist included in Sayyaf wanted list fears for her life

Talk of mistaken identity.

A newspaper reporter’s life is now at the mercy of bounty hunters after the military intelligence community included her in a rogues’ gallery of Abu Sayyaf extremists with a combined P100-million reward on their heads.

Bernadette Tamayo of the sequestered People’s Journal demanded yesterday an apology from the military after it included her in the "wanted poster" displayed in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Zamboanga.

"I am demanding an apology from them and a written certification that I am not a member of the Abu Sayyaf," the 37-year-old Tamayo said.

"I am upset with the military’s intelligence gathering operations. With their blunder, I feel my life is now in constant danger," said the reporter who has covered a succession of Abu Sayyaf hostage crises in the South over the past two years.

Tamayo said her photo was apparently taken from a picture of her with Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, and other journalists in Patikul town, Sulu in May 2000 at the height of the Sipadan hostage crisis.

She was described in the poster as "an unidentified ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) personality."

"I’ve been having sleepless nights... My lifestyle has changed, I could no longer go out," said Tamayo, a 15-year journalism veteran.

She added that she has not yet told her family about her infamous inclusion as it could "traumatize" them.

Colleagues covering Mindanao had informed Tamayo last May that her photograph was included in a list of "unidentified" extremist bandits posted at military headquarters in Basilan.

Upon receiving copies of the poster, she immediately wrote Army Lt. Col. Danilo Lucero, commander of the 18th Infantry Battalion based in Lamitan, Basilan where some of the posters were prominently displayed, to correct the matter.

Copies of her letter were furnished to Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, Armed Forces chief Gen. Roy Cimatu, Armed Forces deputy chief for intelligence Brig. Gen. Glenn Rabonza and Southern command (Southcom) chief Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina.

She said military spokesmen then admitted the inclusion was a mistake and that the photograph would be removed. But other military officials told her she had never been in the order of battle.

"I could have immediately complained, but because I have many friends in the military, I thought it best to settle the matter with them quietly," she said.

Her appeal was evidently ignored by Reyes and the other officials. Lucero merely texted her his response assuring her that she was not in the wanted list.

Southcom spokesman Capt. Noel Detoyato and the other officials, she said, callously dismissed her complaints and told her not to worry "because everybody knows you’re a reporter."

Tamayo said she was forced to reveal details of her ordeal because of the shabby treatment she received from the defense and military establishment.

She said she might file a formal complaint unless she receives a response from the military leadership.

Armed Forces information chief Lt. Col. Danilo Servando tried to dissuade Tamayo from issuing her statement yesterday but failed.

The government last year announced a P100-million reward for the capture and neutralization of Abu Sayyaf leaders and ranking members shortly after the abduction of 20 people from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan.

The US government also put up a separate $5-million reward for the capture and prosecution of the top five Abu Sayyaf leaders.

But journalists covering the defense and military beat said taxpayers’ money is being wasted by the Armed Forces on sloppy intelligence work.

"I doubt the intelligence-gathering capability of the intelligence community," Tamayo said. "Because of this, all the pictures appearing in the posters offering P100-million reward are now questionable." — With AFP report