While we agree that eliminating the growing drug problem in the country should be a priority for the incoming administration of Rodrigo Duterte, we also hope that the tough-talking President-elect would give the same importance to removing from the face of the earth the other scourge of humanity, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
The Abu Sayyaf, which had been quiet the past few years, has resumed its criminal activities in the last few months with the kidnapping of several foreigners. The Islamic separatist group, which has degenerated into a band of bandits after the death of its founder, Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani, in 1998 and his brother, Khadaffy Janjalani, in 2007, has gained international attention and notoriety following the beheading of two of their captives, Canadians John Risdell and Robert Hall.
The ASG carried out the beheadings after the Canadian government refused to pay ransom of P300 million for each after separate deadlines in the past two months. They are still holding captive Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and the Filipino Maritess Flor, for whom they are also demanding P300 million each. More hostages, both foreign and Filipino, languish in other Abu Sayyaf camps.
Earlier, the Abu Sayyaf had released 10 Indonesia crewmembers of a fishing boat after the shipping company reportedly paid a total of P50 million for their freedom. In the past several years, the group had beheaded other hostages after no ransom was paid and released some after payment of ransom in the millions of pesos.
For as long as foreign governments and companies continue to meet the ransom demands of these bandits, there will be more kidnappings because the Abu Sayyaf at this time exists for the same goal as other criminal groups – money.
The Canadian government rightfully refused to heed the Abu Sayyaf’s demand for ransom although it had to pay the price – the violent death of two of its citizens.
“The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said as he called on his colleagues in the G-7, a grouping of the world’s richest nations, to stop paying ransom to kidnapers.
With ransoms in the millions of pesos paid, the Abu Sayyaf will have enough money to purchase more arms and recruit more fighters to carry out even more abductions.
The bigger danger, however, is that with more funds, more arms and more fighters, the Abu Sayyaf can focus its attention again on its separatist and terrorist goals.
In 2000, the Abu Sayyad had about 1,250 fighters that dwindled to just about 200 to 400 members in 2012. From 2000 to 2014, some 500 people had been killed as a result of the ASG’s activities that include bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations.
The Abu Sayyaf, which means “father of the swordsman” or “father of the sword” in Arabic, was responsible for the Philippines’ worst terrorist attack in 2004, the bombing of Superferry 14, which killed 116 people.
Originally formed to create an independent Islamic state encompassing Mindanao and parts of Borneo, southern Thailand and the Sulu archipelago, the Abu Sayyaf will be a major threat to Duterte’s goal of forging peace with the two other separatist groups – the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Abu Sayyaf was formed on the principle that jihad is the only way to attain real peace, justice and righteousness and that the Koran and sunnah (the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions) are the sole guiding authorities for a future new society.
While the MNLF and MILF are agreeable to an autonomous state under a federal system of government, the Abu Sayyaf, once it has rebuilt its army of dedicated fighters, would most probably refuse to deviate from its original goal of a fully independent Islamic state ruled by shariah law.
The Abu Sayyaf has recently released a video where the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) and this could mean a bigger headache for the incoming Duterte government since IS-affiliated groups are more violent and more prone to committing terrorist acts.
The spate of Abu Sayyaf kidnappings has already put a damper on the emergence of tourism as a major sector in the Philippine economy. Several foreign governments have issued travel warnings to the Philippines, particularly in the southern part of the country, because of the threat poised by the Abu Sayyaf.
The military has deployed 5,000 troops to go after the Abu Sayyaf bandits, but numerical superiority has not given the AFP an advantage as the Abus has better knowledge of the rugged terrain and people living in the three barangays where they reportedly operate are said to be protecting them because the residents are given shares of the bounty from the kidnappings.
There are moves to declare martial law in the area to enable the military to move more freely. President Aquino himself has said that he had entertained the idea of declaring martial law three weeks before the deadline on the payment of ransom for Hall was set to expire to enable the troops to pursue the Abus and save the hostages.
Aquino said he did not declare martial law because he would need to deploy so many forces with no guarantee of positive results. “There might even be negative results. There might be additional sympathy [for] our enemies here,” Aquino said.
Richard J. Gordon, who was recently elected to another term in the Senate, agrees that a strong government is needed to solve kidnappings in Mindanao and avoid possible foreign intervention in the country’s counter-terrorism campaign.
Even the Commission on Human Rights expressed support for the government’s campaign to “apply the full force of the law” against the Abu Sayyaf.
“These despicable acts of the [Abu Sayyaf] have no place in a civilized society,” according to the CHR, which said it supported the campaign of the national government to apply the “full force of the law, arrest all perpetrators of these heinous crimes, bring them before the bar of justice, and to ensure accountability.”
President Aquino has started unleashing the “full force of the law” but with just a few days left of his term, his hands are obviously tied from staging the war against the Abu Sayyaf more forcefully and is expected to hand over the mission to Duterte.
Will Duterte use the same strong-arm tactics he has vowed to use against the drug dealers and other criminal elements in eliminating this other scourge of society? I think he should, and then show the people in the area that the government has not neglected them by aggressively pursuing the development of the region.
It should not just be a battle of arms and ammos, but for the hearts and minds of the people.
(valabelgas@aol.com)