Abu Sayyaf: Too many leaders

For two weeks now, government negotiator Robert Aventajado has been trying to secure the release of 21 mostly foreign hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf extremists in Sulu.

The drawn-out negotiations are not because the government cannot meet the rebels' demands; rather, the rebels don't seem to know what they want.

Aventajado, President Estrada's adviser on flagship projects, leads a seven-member negotiating team formed by President Estrada. Aventajado has repeatedly complained of receiving piecemeal demands from several Abu Sayyaf rebels -- each claiming to be the group's leader.

This confirms military reports that since the death of Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani in a shootout with police in Basilan on Dec. 18, 1998, no single leader of the extremist group has emerged. All major decisions have to decided by a panel of four or five leaders, including Janjalani's younger brother, Khadaffi.

"When Aburajak was killed, Khadaffi did not immediately take his brother's place. So for some time there was a (power) vacuum," a military intelligence officer, who declined to be identified, told The STAR.

Khadaffi Janjalani is reportedly hiding in Basilan where he is being hunted down by soldiers rescuing eight people, including six children, his group kidnapped on March 20.

Aventajado had said Janjalani was not among the Abu Sayyaf leaders he met in Sulu.

Janjalani's absence is believed to be hampering the hostage negotiations but the military suspects that the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf unit regularly communicates with him.

Classified military documents obtained by The STAR showed that as of late 1999, the Abu Sayyaf leadership is headed by its Islamic executive council, chaired by Janjalani, and has two branches each overseeing operations in Basilan and Sulu.

The council manages seven smaller branches, each in charge of various responsibilities such as personnel and operations, urban demolition and intelligence, finance, and medical.

There are also group leaders and territorial unit heads. All in all, about 18 men lead a group of about 1,000 fighters scattered in Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga, Cotabato and General Santos City.

Military reports said the Abu Sayyaf strength has dwindled by at least five percent from 1998 to 1999 and the group has turned into a seeming gang of bandits rather than a rebel group fighting in the name of Islam.

The younger brother of the late Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani, Khadaffi Janjalani is the overall leader. He was born in Isabela, Basilan in March 1975 to Abubakar Janjalani and Vilma Montanio.

He only finished fourth year high school at Basilan National Islamic High School in 1993. Aside from Abdurajak, Janjalani has four other siblings. One of them is Hector, Abu Sayyaf chief urban demolitionist and intelligence officer.

Janjalani was arrested in May 1995 in Jolo, Sulu for kidnapping and was detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City. He escaped and fled to Basilan.

He was arrested again on Feb. 15, 1997 by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Cebu City but got out on bail. Janjalani has three warrants of arrest for murder and robbery issued by an Isabela court.

Prior to Abdurajak's death, Janjalani was the Abu Sayyaf's finance and liaison officer keeping contacts in Cebu City, Manila and other cities.

Military sources said, so far, there have been no indications that he underwent guerrilla warfare training like his brother who reportedly trained in Libya and Afghanistan.

Janjalani also could have been influenced by his elder brother's radicalism. But he ascended the Abu Sayyaf leadership, sources said, only because he was a Janjalani.

He was an unknown until he introduced himself as the group's spokesman during last April's negotiation in Basilan for the release of a group of teachers and schoolchildren they seized in Sumisip town.

The 1999 roster of Abu Sayyaf leaders made no mention of Salayuddin.

But his savvy in confusing government negotiators -- by demanding actor Robin Padilla to act as negotiator, 200 sacks of rice and the release of World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Ahmed Yousef -- led the military to believe that he is an old hand and got terrorist training in the Middle East.

Unconfirmed reports said Salayuddin and Janjalani quarreled over the handling of the Basilan hostages. Janjalani reportedly got angry over Salayuddin's aggressive posturing that could have endangered the lives of Janjalani's family and relatives who were held hostage by a vigilante in group in Basilan in retaliation for the kidnapping of the teachers and schoolchildren.

Salayuddin is believed to have escaped to Zamboanga City following a military assault on their lair in Mt. Punoh Mohadje in Basilan on May 3.

Aside from being the overall leader of the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf and a close friend and deputy of the late Abdurajak Janjalani and Galib Andang, little is known about Sahiron.

It is believed that he received guerrilla training either in Libya, Iran, Syria or Afghanistan.

Sahiron, a former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander, participated in the notorious April 1995 attack on Ipil town in Zamboanga del Sur in which at least 53 people were killed and the whole town center was razed.

He also led a 1996 ambush against a Marine unit in Patikul, Sulu, killing four. He was one of the rebels who attempted to worm through a military dragnet with some of the 21 mostly foreign hostages in Sulu.

Little is also known about Andang, who is also a former MNLF rebel. Military officials insist, however, he is more known as a leader of a kidnap and pirate gang operating in Sulu.

Among his victims were Catholic nuns Sisters Fatima Oribaren and Julia Forrester, Catholic priest Fr. Clarence Berterlsman, Xiao Lu, Chi Ming Cho, Tong Ket Ming, Cheung Yau Law and Edwin Indoso.

A close associate of Sahiron, Andang and his men snatched the 21 mostly foreign hostages from the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan. He led the transfer of the hostages to Patikul town to escape a military dragnet rescuing the captives.

Andang is among the Abu Sayyaf leaders meeting with government negotiators.

Facing four arrest warrants for murder, robbery and kidnapping, Hapilon is the overall leader of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. A former MNLF rebel, he led the abduction of the teachers and schoolchildren.

He and Sahiron had planned to launch an Ipil-like attack on Isabela if the hostage negotiation bogged down.

Hapilon is believed to have been killed during a military attack against the Abu Sayyaf's Camp Abdurajak in Mt. Punoh Mohadje on May 3 but the military could not confirm this.