In September 2000, then President Bill Clinton sent his defense secretary, William S. Cohen, to hand-carry to President Erap Estrada a letter asking him to suspend military operations against the Abu Sayyaf. In return, the Estrada administration was to get US aid by way of training and equipping Filipino troops for counter-terrorism.
Clinton and Cohen failed to convince Estrada, who read the US meddling as an attempt to pressure him to relax his mailed-fist policy against the Abu Sayyaf and other rebel groups. Estrada used the terms "pressure" and "meddling" when we talked to him about the letter.
Takeoff point of Clinton was the Abu Sayaff’s holding in Jolo of Jeffrey Schilling, an American arms-trader from Oakland, California, whom they captured on Aug. 28, 2000. He said military operations might endanger the life of Schilling.
Then 24, Schilling was staying in Zamboanga with his wife Ivy Osani, a cousin of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, when he sailed to Sulu reportedly with an arms deal offer. Detained by the terrorists on suspicion of being a US government agent, he was recovered on Maundy Thursday last year after seven months in captivity.
"I am pleased that you are seeing my Secretary of Defense. He speaks on my behalf and has my full trust.
"For many months now, the Philippines has faced repeated hostage crises in the Sulu archipelago that have brought your nation into the international spotlight. These crises have presented a grave challenge to your administration, and have placed a terrible burden on the people of the Philippines. I understand how difficult a time you are facing now.
"The recent capture of American citizen Jeffrey Schilling presents yet another challenge. The United States appreciates the efforts your government has made so far to deal with Mr. Schilling’s situation and pursue his safe release. We hope to continue our close cooperation. Our experts believe that a rescue attempt by your forces would be too dangerous at this time. The risk to Mr. Schilling — as well as innocent civilians and your own forces — is great.
"However, the United States wants to continue to work with your government to resolve the situation peacefully. There is still time to achieve a negotiated settlement that involves neither concessions nor the use of force, while allowing you in the meantime to further develop your counter-terrorism capabilities.
"We are committed to enhancing your counter-terrorism capabilities and would like to provide appropriate equipment and training. Our assessment is that this could be accomplished through a four-month training program, which we will fund. We are prepared to begin and need your cooperation in identifying the right unit to train and equip. But now, I encourage you to refrain from actions that may risk the life of Mr. Schilling."
Note the similarity in the approach of President George W. Bush in the case of the American missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham, whose later kidnapping the same Abu Sayyaf became a stronger argument for US presence in the South when it was overtaken by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and New York.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was among the first to respond to the call of Bush for a global fight against terrorism. It became just a matter of time before US forces were pouring into Zamboanga and Basilan to help fight the 80 or so terrorists on the island.
The anti-terrorist training that Clinton offered to Estrada and which the latter rejected, was eventually accepted by Arroyo using existing RP-US agreements as legal cover.
Unlike Estrada, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appears more receptive to US ideas and how to fight the terrorists. But she has been steadfast, so far, in ruling out American forces being sent on search-and-destroy operations against terrorists.
The Abu Sayyaf problem is a local concern, she says. Following the script, the US has been echoing the line that its forces are here just to help train and equip Filipino soldiers.
For his part, even with the benefit of hindsight, Estrada is insisting that the best way to deal with the terrorists is to pursue them. He is vehemently against returning the rebel camps captured by the military at great costs in men (some 400 killed) and matériel.
It’s not politically correct hereabouts to ask in public if Moros could be trusted. To play safe, we are quoting instead portions of a report of United Press International last June 20.
The head is "Islamic Scholar Warns US of ‘Two-Faced’ Muslims" and the body reads:
WASHINGTON — A leader of the small worldwide Muslim reform movement is warning the West against wishful thinking as the US government promotes an intensive dialogue with Islam.
"The dialogue is not proceeding well because of the two-facedness of most Muslim interlocutors on the one hand and the gullibility of well-meaning Western idealists on the other," Bassam Tibi said Tuesday in an interview with United Press International.
Syrian-born Tibi, who claims to be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed and teaches political science at Goettingen University in Germany, appealed for intellectual honesty in these exchanges.
"First, both sides should acknowledge candidly that although they might use identical terms these mean different things to each of them. The word ‘peace’, for example, implies to a Muslim the extension of the Dar al-Islam – or ‘House of Islam’ – to the entire world," explained Tibi, who is also a research scholar at Harvard University.
"This is completely different from the Enlightenment concept of eternal peace that dominates Western thought, a concept developed by Immanuel Kant," an 18th-century philosopher.
"Similarly, when Muslims and the Western heirs of the Enlightenment speak of tolerance they have different things in mind. In Islamic terminology, this term implies abiding non-Islamic monotheists, such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, as second-class believers. They are ‘dhimmi’, a protected but politically immature minority."
According to Tibi, the quest of converting the entire world to Islam is an immutable fixture of the Muslim worldview. Only if this task is accomplished, if the world has become a "Dar-al-Islam," will it also be a "Dar a-Salam," or a house of peace.
Tibi appealed to his co-religionists to "revise their understanding of peace and tolerance by accepting pluralism." Furthermore, he said, Muslim leaders should give up the notion of Jihad in the sense of conquest, as opposed to Jihad as an internal struggle of the individual.
This is not only because there is a $1-million reward promised by the US government, but also because experience has taught us that such reports of an enemy-leader’s death could be a bit exaggerated by an excitable military.
We recall the military report of the alleged death of rebel leader Rizal Alih years ago supposed buried in the smoldering ruins of Camp Cawa-Cawa that was bombarded by land and air forces personally commanded by then Gen. Renato de Villa, AFP chief of staff. After several weeks, a very much alive Alih sent us a color picture of himself, grinning despite his wounds and shattered leg.
Which reminds us, what ever happened to another colorful Abu Sayyaf leader, this character who goes by the name of Commander Robot? Has he flown abroad and, with his millions (in ransom dollars), altered his face and fully recharged his batteries?