Sayyaf beheads another hostage

ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines  – Abu Sayyaf bandits beheaded another male hostage after the local government in Lamitan City, Basilan, turned down the demand of the suspects to collect a monthly revolutionary fee, officials reported yesterday.

Nick Castro, security chief of Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay, said the second victim, Cosme Aballe, was recovered with his head almost severed from his body in a remote area in Barangay Arco last Saturday.

Castro disclosed the execution came a day after the same Abu Sayyaf band, led by Puruji Indama, beheaded Emilio Clemente last Good Friday after the bandits attacked Arco.

He said that following the execution of the two victims, the bandits are now holding only one hostage, identified as Bernard Chavez, 23, resident of Barangay Arco.

Six children abducted by the bandits were either released or have escaped.

The Abu Sayyaf claimed that they beheaded Clemente and Aballe because they were alleged members of the Ilaga, a Christian vigilante group that attacks Moro rebels in Basilan and other parts of Mindanao.

But officials disclosed that a day before the raid at Arco, bandits demanded a revolutionary tax from the local government of Lamitan.

“Then the group sent text message that they will not stop and that they have already beheaded one of their captives,” a police source said.

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad appealed to the bandits to stop the atrocities against Christian villages and urged the Abu Sayyaf to talk to local officials about their grievances to help develop the province.

“Why is it that the Christian villages are being targeted? The governor should show moral control to these rebels,” Bishop Jumoad said.

Jumoad also called on the villagers to be extra alert and vigilant in the face of the situation that is bringing tension to some areas of Basilan.

Capt. Neil Estella, Marine spokesman, said some members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) supported the Abu Sayyaf bandits during the Arco raid.

“What is sad is that some of the men involved are identified MILF commanders,” Estella said.

He said government troops are still pursuing the attackers who carried out the raid to disrupt the observance of Holy Week.

Efforts to get back teachers assured

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus assured the families of the three public school teachers that were abducted by bandits in Zamboanga City last January that local negotiators are doing everything to have the victims released unharmed.

Victims Rafael Mayonado, 22, Janette de los Reyes, 27, and Freires Quizon, 29, were kidnapped while on board a motorized boat from Sacol Island, half a mile east of Zamboanga City last Jan. 23.

Quizon and De los Reyes are teachers of Arena Blanco National High School, Landang Gua Annex, while Mayonado is with Landang Gua Elementary School. Their abductors, identified by authorities as a “lost command” of the MILF, have demanded a P5-million ransom.

Another kidnap-for-ransom gang abducted a separate group of public school teachers in Zamboanga Sibugay last March.

Teachers Noemi Mandi, 38, Jocelyn Inion, 39, and Jocelyn Enriquez, 43, of Bangkaw-Bangkaw Elementary School, were abducted March 13 while on their way home.

Police have identified their abductors as a group of pirates led by Kamsa Asdanal. The kidnappers are demanding a P10-million ransom for the release of the teachers.

Lapus, who went to Zamboanga City yesterday morning to check on ongoing efforts to ensure the well-being of the kidnapped teachers, said Zamboanga Mayor Celso Lobregat assured him of the efforts to get back the teachers.

The Teachers Organization of the Philippine Public Sector (TOPPS) organized a conference and the public school teachers and Department of Education Region 9 officers issued a call to the teachers’ abductors to release their colleagues.

Lobregat said the city’s crisis management committee had sent food and other supplies to the three teachers through government emissaries.

“Supplies have been sent to the kidnap victims. I can tell you it’s being done. And the families are satisfied with the actions that have been undertaken,” Lobregat said. – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Jaime Laude, AP