What about the other kidnap victims?

While sipping my regular cup of Cappuccino, I glanced at the Sunday paper on the coffee table. Believe me, I almost fell off my chair. I could not believe that I was reading a horrible tragedy of government yielding to the "demands" of this group of notorious bandits called the Abu Sayyaff and yet trying to explain that it was an honorable thing to do. Good heavens! Since when did state, I mean the republic, start to negotiate with criminals? I might be too old fashioned or might have seen too much television but I thought that "no negotiation with criminals" was, pardon the pun,unnegotiable policy by all governments worldwide.

What added to my perception of tragedy was the fact that the source of the news was no less than the Secretary of the Interior and the Local Government. For so long a time, I thought he was such a smooth operator himself (remember how he ingratiated himself from one administration to another?) that he would put to great use his skill to outmaneuver the kidnappers. His announcement did not do justice to the kind of reputation I had of him. On the contrary, the news indicated that somehow, the bandits had his number.

Anyway, the "demand" was to give space to the band of killers in exchange of a promise to free one of the kidnapped victims. And reports had it that if government did not give in, the kidnappers would decapitate their victims. So, government authorities took refuge under a good cover. To explain their inability to rescue the kidnapped victims, they tried to appear concerned more with saving human lives than surrendering to an unlawful threat!

Perhaps, it might have, indeed, sounded reasonable to many persons, especially to the relatives of the victims. After all, it was supposed to be life saved after weeks of the victims being criminally and illegally abducted. But, what our authorities failed to consider was that the Abu Sayyaff Group (ASG) gained a monumental victory at the expense of our government. The killers put one over our leaders. No they just did not get space (to do more kidnappings and murders, what else?), they showed the incompetence of our armed and police forces.

The story incensed me as an ordinary Filipino. I had never been a bloodhound or a warmonger but I really could not understand why the Armed Forces of the Philippines had to pull out from a certain position. It took them a long time and great amount of resources, as well as the lives of some of our fine soldiers to do their sworn duty of pursuing the bandits. They initially seemed clueless, their marshalling purposeless.But now that they seem to be able, finally, to confine these killers to a certain defined area, why would they give these marauders space?

As the incident continued to unravel, I saw the strength of the killers in relation to the weakness of our army. The earlier demand for just a space has grown exponentially. The killers would now want the security forces of the republic out of the island. And they even have the audacity to set the time for our soldiers to withdraw. "if by 2 o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, the armed forces have not complied with the demand x x x" or words to that effect, they would kill the Lacaba and company.

 That is not all.There is a much graver issue to attend to. I refer to the other kidnap victims. While it devastates me to acknowledge that our forces are inutile, I am saddened even more by the apparent inaction of our leaders on the fate of the two other sets of kidnap victims! Everybody seems to focus on the Red Cross volunteers held captive by the criminals maybe because they involved foreigners.Is there anyone concerned with the Filipino teachers who were snatched by the same band of criminals? Can I expect Sec. Puno to mention anything he is doing for these Filipinos and Sen. Gordon to shed a tear in public that their own countrymen be freed from the shackles of the criminals?

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