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NEGOTIATIONS DEADLOCKED, BANDITS THREATEN BEHEADING

Prepare for worst as Abu group deadline nears — gov’t

By Mario J. Mallari and Gina P. Elorde

03/31/2009

Admitting a stalemate in negotiations, government officials said they are now “hoping for the best and preparing for the worst” on the countdown to the 2 p.m. deadline today given by Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Albader Parad on their threat to behead three hostages if state forces do not totally withdraw from the island of Sulu.

At Camp Crame, Quezon City, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno criticized the Abu Sayyaf rebels for their insincerity in the negotiations after the bandits repeatedly changed their conditions for the release of the three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hostages. Puno said the bandits gave three different demands since the group abducted the three ICRC staff, Filipina Marie Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni last Jan.15.

As of yesterday afternoon, Puno said that Parad’s group demanded that the

Philippine Marine contingent already confined in at least nine different military bases in Sulu province should vacate those areas and should only be confined in two small places in Jolo.

The repositioning of the Marine troops should be completed in one and a half day, beginning last Sunday afternoon, Puno said, referring to Parad’s demand.

The bandits said they will behead one of their hostages this afternoon if the military does not cede control of Sulu, Puno said.

Abu Sayyaf rebels told negotiators a tactical retreat from parts of Jolo island would not be enough to save the lives of the captives.

The new demand was relayed late Sunday, just hours after the military and police pulled back from a jungle area where they had cornered some 120 militants and their three hostages, Puno said.

Also, Parad’s group rescheduled the deadline for the government to comply with their new demand from 5 a.m. to 2p.m., Puno added.

The Abu Sayyaf group, meanwhile, said it is not extending the ultimatum given to the government and would start beheading the three ICRC aid-workers today if they continue to be unsatisfied with the pullout of security forces in Sulu province.

Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Ann Sahidulla, a member of the multi-agency Task Force ICRC, said the Abu Sayyaf band of Albader Parad was not satisfied with the earlier pull out of government forces from some parts of the towns of Maimbung, Patikul, Talipao and Indanan.

Sahidulla, when asked if there would be extension of the ultimatum given for troops pullout in exchange for the release of one of the hostages, replied in the negative. The one-week ultimatum will lapse today.

“As far as I know, there is no change, no extension. If they (government troops) don’t pull out, and stay there, maybe tomorrow morning they will behead (the hostages),” Sahidulla further said.

Asked if the Abu Sayyaf terrorists were serious with the beheading threat, the vice governor said “I think so because they are used to doing that and they don’t give importance to lives.”

Last Saturday amid the beheading threat, the government gave in to Abu Sayyaf demand and started pulling out security forces from various towns in Sulu which, according to Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, practically left almost one-third of the province without law enforcers and expressed fears of a break down of law and order.

Tan has said the pullout would give the Abu Sayyaf terrorists approximately 140 square kilometers of space which, he said, was more than enough to release one of the hostages.

But Sahidulla said Parad’s group was not satisfied with the pullout as evidenced by the non-release of any of the three hostages.

“If they (Abu Sayyaf) see it for themselves that there are no more (government troops) then they will call immediately for the release of one (of the hostages),” the vice governor explained.

“Actually, there is a schedule now, anytime they (Abu Sayyaf) will call but the military has not yet totally pulled out,” Sahidulla further said.

As of yesterday, Sahidulla said the three hostages remain together and were in good condition aside from having lost some weight apparently due to the prolonged captivity. The three were snatched after inspecting a project at the Sulu provincial jail in Patikul town.

“So frankly we are very disheartened by these new demands, which were given late last night and which clearly has no physical possibility of being complied with. These are new demands, this is the third set of demands,” Puno said.

The bandits demanded last March 25 that military troops pull back from their positions which the government accepted by ordering the Marine soldiers to return to their bases.

Instead of releasing one of the three ICRC hostages, the Abu Sayyaf, however, issued another set of demands four days later, this time asking government authorities to reposition the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the police auxiliary forces from the surrounding areas of Mt. Tukay, which was also complied with by the PNP which repositioned its contingent to the Maimbung Highway area from Mt. Tukay.

Parad also asked the government negotiators to confine the police, military and civilian emergency forces to three areas of Duhul Simiento and Tagbak in Indanan town; and Santol in Patikul that the authorities this time rejected.

If the government negotiators heed the Abu Sayyaf’s demand, Puno said the majority of the areas of Sulu will be under severe threat of criminal and terrorist elements.

“And you can see that it is one small corner in the entire province of Sulu where basically the troops will be subjected to severe threat; Jolo itself will be in threat; no other place in the province will be immune from any threat,” he said.

Based on a briefing delivered by Senior Supt. Winnie Quidato of the PNP Intelligence Group, the Marines are presently confined in at least nine positions in Sulu and they include Taglibi, Maglibak, Quezon Beach and Duhulsa in Patikul; Bud Bayog in Talipao; Igayo and Salipay in Parang; and Batuhawa sa patatal and Tandu Patang in Maimbung.

At least 100 civilian volunteer organizations are also stationed in Kampitita also in Maiumbung.

The DILG chief said the demand of the Abu Sayyaf to pull out Marine troops from the bases is just like asking the entire PNP force to vacate its Camp Crame headquarters in 24 hours.

“It is physically impossible. So I don’t know how they can be serious if they are saying that we should evacuate all of these areas within 24 hours and then schedule a beheading at 2 p.m,” he added.

There were no immediate signs the gunmen were preparing to hand over any of the hostages, said provincial Governor Tan, who heads the team trying to free the captives.

“We have done everything we could. I don’t know whether we could still give any other concessions, short of giving them the entire island,” Tan told a radio station.

“We hope and pray they will not carry out their threat by tomorrow,” Tan said.

The government initially rejected the Abu Sayyaf’s demand for a pullout but relented after the ICRC’s president in Geneva made a rare public appeal for cooperation to save the lives of the three hostages.

Troops retreated from the Abu Sayyaf’s jungle area, effectively leaving five towns on the island of Jolo under the group’s control.

Tan said Parad had told him in a telephone call that he now wants all government forces to be “restricted” to Jolo’s provincial capital, effectively yielding the entire province to the group.

Puno said Abu Sayyaf’s council of leaders now wanted all security forces to abandon existing bases, leaving the province’s half a million residents “completely unprotected” from the rebels.

“They demanded new repositionings,” Puno said, adding that the military camps have been in Jolo for decades.

He said the rebels had set a 2 pm deadline today for the government to comply, or they would behead one hostage.

While the government was prepared to be “humiliated” to keep the hostages safe, Puno said the Abu Sayyaf harming any of the hostages would trigger heavy reprisals.

“We just happen to believe that they’re serious and we don’t want the hostages to be harmed, but if they harm one hostage, then the situation will obviously change,” he said.

The government should stand its ground and not bow down to the demands of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf, an opposition senator said yesterday, pointing out that the withdrawal of military troops will only jeopardize the security of the people of Jolo.

Amid the tension of the 24-hour deadline imposed by the ASG for the Armed Forces to withdraw its troops in Jolo, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon yesterday told reporters that the only option left is to mount a rescue operation on the three abducted ICRC workers.

“Definitely we cannot abandon the whole of Jolo on the say so of a terrorist group because if we do that you continue to project to the terrorist that your system is weak.

“I think that we are now witnessing a test by the terrorists of the government’s resolve in the implementation of its national policies,” he said.

While the call for the withdrawal of troops came with the ASG’s threat of having one of the hostages beheaded, if its demand will not be heeded, the senator urged the government to remain firm in its no-ransom payment, no-negotiation policy.

Although he acceded to having the hostage-crisis resolved peacefully, the chair of the committee on national defense and security and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff, pointed out if the ASG will remain in its stance, authorities have no other recourse but to mount a rescue operation.

Angie M. Rosales