MANILA, Philippines - The government needs to do more to address the Abu Sayyaf problem, Vice President Jejomar Binay said on Monday as he paid his last respects to the seven Marines killed by the bandits in an encounter in Sulu on Saturday.
Binay, a Marine reservist with the rank of a colonel, made this call when he visited the wake of the seven soldiers whose remains were brought “home†at the Marine headquarters in Fort Bonificio, Taguig City where they were accorded posthumous military honors for bravery and heroism.
“Kailangan talagang mabigyan ng atensyon itong problema natin sa Abu Sayyaf,†said Binay.
The Vice President assured the families of the slain Marine soldiers of the government’s financial and housing assistance.
He said the continued presence of Abu Sayyaf has been hampering government development efforts in the conflict areas like Sulu and Basilan.
Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Luis Alano, for his part, stressed that the seven Marine soldiers and their nine wounded colleagues in the Patikul clash were experienced soldiers and were only conducting training to further improve their skills in terms of force reconnaissance.
“They were actually doing a route security in preparation for the deployment of other follow-on forces. And the incident happened actually within or near the vicinity of their main maneuvering base. It was a meeting encounter,†Alano said.
Alano also pointed out that as a matter of established procedure, any movement of main operating troops, the route before jump off should be cleared first and this is the job of the reconnaissance force.
“Before you have a main body moving out to any destination maneuver, you make sure that the area is cleared. Now this forms part of the doctrines that we do as far as the conduct of operations is concerned," he said.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, meanwhile, issued an order to the ground commanders in Sulu to sustain pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf as an ongoing probe is underway, also as a matter of procedure, into the Patikul incident.
Bautista said that despite of what happened, the military's morale remains high and he assurd that the killing of the seven Marines will not deter the soldiers from performing their mandate.
“This will not deter our people from performing their mandate of protecting the people and the state, the security and sovereignty of the state, and the national territory. This is what we have trained for as soldiers and this mandate will continue to perform regardless the risks that we are face in doing that,†Bautista said.
Bautista said he also feels the suffering of the seven Marines' families as he, too, lost his father in a treacherous attack staged by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Patikul in the 70s.
“I am here to condole with the families. Not only as a chief of staff, but on personal basis, as I also have gone through that. It’s a sad experience but I’m sure the families will live through and come out stronger,†Bautista said.