ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines, 12 August 2007 — Thousands of people have fled their homes in the southern Philippine island of Jolo as troops pursued Moro rebels blamed for killing at least 26 soldiers over the past few days, officials said yesterday.
The fighting, which began last Tuesday, has caused some 8,000 people to flee their homes, the provincial disaster coordinating council said.
Social welfare officers, who were to distribute relief goods to the villagers, were only able to enter the affected areas yesterday because of the threat of attack earlier.
At least 6,000 troops poured into Jolo since Friday as the military sought to re-establish control over the troubled island.
“We’re stepping up our operations to cordon off and destroy the Abu Sayyaf,” Military spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres told reporters as an air force transport plane landed on Jolo, ferrying 120 commandos.
Talking tough but leaving room for peace, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday ordered that the army headquarters be moved from Fort Bonifacio in suburban Manila to Zamboanga City and sent its chief, Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, to personally lead military operations against the extremist Abu Sayyaf.
“I have ordered army commanding general Romeo Tolentino to the front lines, to help oversee the theater of operations and to be nearer to my soldiers,” Arroyo said in her third statement since Friday night on the death of 26 soldiers in Sulu.
“The army (headquarters) will now be temporarily set up in the (Western Mindanao Command) in Zamboanga until the situation normalizes,” she said, adding:
“I expect General Tolentino, considered a soldier’s soldier, not just to orchestrate punitive actions against those who wantonly maim and kill but also to evaluate the peaceful overtures of those who will demonstrate remorse.”
Earlier in the day, with the military suffering its biggest casualties in two successive months, the president announced a sustained offensive against the Abu Sayyaf.
She said the Abu Sayyaf deserved public condemnation for its violent acts.
“The military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf must continue, not as an act of vengeance but as a strategy to win the peace,” Arroyo said in a separate statement.
“We cannot allow terrorists to hold the South hostage to their agenda of mayhem and blood sport. We seek peace with those with peaceful intentions. But we also seek justice for our soldiers, civilians and communities affected by this conflict. Our troops will prevail because our intentions are just and noble,” she said.
In another message issued on Friday night, Arroyo praised the soldiers who fought against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and expressed condolences to the families of 26 soldiers killed in the ambush.
“We commend the bravery of our soldiers even as we grieve for those who offered their lives in the line of duty, while pursuing our quest for peace and justice. There can be no letup in our fight against terror. The Abu Sayyaf deserves public condemnation for its acts of violence that have stalled peace and progress in the southern Philippines,” she said.
‘Because There’s a War’
The clashes were an offshoot of the killing of 14 Marines, 10 of whom were beheaded, in Al-Barka, Basilan, on July 10, when Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters ambushed the troops who were returning to base after a fruitless search for kidnapped (and since released) Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.
Speaking yesterday with Vice President Noli de Castro on the latter’s radio program, “Para sa Iyo, Bayan,” armed forces chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said troop casualties were “realities” in a war against terror.
But he acknowledged that the 26 soldiers killed in clashes that began on Aug. 2 in Sulu were too many.
Esperon clarified that the death toll of 26 did not occur in a single day.
‘MNLF Protecting Militants’
Col. Anthony Supnet, an army brigade commander in Jolo, accused the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of protecting members of extremist Abu Sayyaf group and the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah.
The MNLF signed a peace accord with the government in 1996 but many of its members have accused Manila of failing to fulfill its obligations. MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari, who became governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao after he signed the 1992 peace agreement, is under detention in Manila, charged with rebellion for leading a failed uprising in Jolo in late 2001.
On Thursday, MNLF fighters attacked government soldiers pursuing the Abu Sayyaf and JI terror suspects hiding in Jolo, Supnet said.
Supnet said a prominent Abu Sayyaf member, Salip Edimar, who was killed in the fighting had an MNLF membership card.
Edimar, along with Marad Asti, were among the prominent Abu Sayyaf members killed in fighting last Thursday.
Supnet said both worked for Radulan Sahiron, one of the most senior Abu Sayyaf leaders on the island wanted by the United States and the Philippines for the spate of kidnappings of foreigners and terrorism in the troubled South.
“When we recovered the body of Salip Edimar, we also got his wallet and there was his identification card — he’s a member of the MNLF and his ID card bore the signature of Nur Misuari, the chieftain of the MNLF,” Supnet said.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said troops recovered only 10 bodies of fallen rebels but 22 other deaths were reported by other soldiers and civilian informants in four engagements from Tuesday to Thursday.
He said the remains of Asti was among five rebels who were recovered after the Wednesday morning gunbattle in Lanao Dakula village of Parang town.
Asti is ranked 17th in the military’s order of battle for the Abu Sayyaf, Bacarro said. Another fatality was identified only as Jehili, an alleged rogue MNLF member.
One soldier was killed while five others were wounded in the Wednesday encounter in Parang.
On Tuesday morning, two Marines were wounded in an encounter with Abu Sayyaf fighters on Mt. Tubora in Indanan town.
Deadly Clashes
In the Thursday afternoon encounter in Tambaking village, Maimbung town, where 15 soldiers from the 33rd Army Infantry Battalion were killed, the remains of another five Abu Sayyaf fighters were recovered, Bacarro said in text message to reporters.
It was in the Thursday encounter where Edimar, alias Long Hair, was killed, along with Mazdal Jumdail, the son of Gumbahali Jumdail alias Doc Abu and right-hand man of another extremist leader, Albader Parad, the military said.
Earlier Thursday, 10 soldiers were killed after they were ambushed by the Abu Sayyaf in the same town. A nine-year-old boy, reportedly the son of an extremist commander, was killed in the crossfire, the military said.
The 25 soldiers killed in the two engagements on Thursday was the most number of casualties incurred in a single day in recent years, Bacarro had said. Over all, 26 soldiers and 31 Abu Sayyaf members were killed, while 17 soldiers and 25 extremists were injured over four days.
Supnet said the MNLF attack on troops pursuing extremist forces exposed the extent of their alliance.
He alleged that among the rebels hiding with the MNLF forces were two wanted members of the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyaah, Dulmatin and Umar Patek.
“The terrorists are in the territory of the MNLF: the Abu Sayyaf and Dulmatin and Umar Patek. They were sighted in that area,” he said.
Dulmatin and Umar Patek are accused of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings that left over 200 people dead. The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the worst terror attacks in the Philippines.
Supnet said the operation would continue despite the deaths of the soldiers.
“We have a price to pay and we cannot hide our casualties, unlike the opposition. We won’t stop until we get these high value targets,” he said. (With input from Inquirer News Service & agencies)
