The government rejected yesterday a demand by the Abu Sayyaf, which is holding 21 people hostage in Jolo, to replace former Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari as lead negotiator despite a threat from the extremist group that it will start beheading its foreign captives.
A spokesman for the Muslim extremist group demanded on Friday that Misuari be replaced by representatives of the foreign hostages' countries -- Malaysia, Germany, France, Finland, South Africa and Lebanon.
"No, we'll not replace Misuari just because of that demand by the Abu Sayyaf," National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said in a television interview.
"In the first place, they cannot demand any more. They are under attack," he said, referring to a major military assault on the rebel camp in Basilan where the extremists are holding another 27 all-Filipino hostages.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the Abu Sayyaf could not dictate to the government who it wanted as negotiator, adding: "We cannot follow the whims of the rebels all the time."
Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan also rejected demands that Misuari be replaced.
"Why? What do these abductors want? Do they want to negotiate with another actor?" Tan asked, referring to movie actor Robin Padilla, who went to Basilan to negotiate with the rebels earlier.
"Who is it that they want this time?" he asked.
The 21 hostages, including a Filipina, being held in Jolo were abducted in the Malaysian resort of Sipadan off Borneo on Sunday and brought to Sulu by speedboat.
According to a witness, the hostages are alive but weak.
Earlier reports had said that the hostages were divided into groups and taken to separate locations to avoid easy detection by authorities.
The threat to behead the foreign hostages if Misuari was not replaced was made by Abu Sayyaf spokesman Aby Ahmad in Basilan through local radio station dxRZ.
The rebels then put on air a man identifying himself as South African hostage Karel Strydom, who repeated the rebel spokesman's threat.
But Misuari said yesterday that Abu Sayyaf emissaries in Sulu had told him to ignore the threat.
"They told me that they still have trust and confidence in me and that they want to negotiate with me," Misuari said in between mosque prayers.
Misuari, who is governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, warned Abu Sayyaf rebels not to harm the foreign hostages, saying he could retaliate by mobilizing his rebels-turned-soldiers of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Misuari's separatist movement signed a peace treaty with the government in 1996 in exchange for a limited Muslim self-rule. Some in the movement are believed to have joined the Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf has also asked the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Conference to urge Manila to stop the military offensive in Basilan, where officials said government troops have overrun 80 percent of the guerrilla base.
Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom), told local television that the Basilan assault would continue "until we dominate this area as soon as possible."
However, he later said: "We are holding on to the hope and we are praying that the hostages would be on ... Hill 898 that has not been reached by our troops."
Elite troops pursued fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels along an upper ridge of the 898-meter mountain, Southcom spokesman Col. Hilario Atendido said. Others shelled rebel positions, while planes dropped bombs in the heavy fighting.
The rebels, however, claimed they had escaped into the forest with all the captives.
"They are all here with us ... all 27 of them," rebel spokesman Ahmad told radio station dxRZ.
Soldiers found shallow graves believed to contain the bodies of about 20 rebels, and suspected other bodies were hidden in the camp's network of foxholes, bunkers and tunnels.
Ahmad, however, reported only four rebel deaths.
Christians and ethnic Chinese are fleeing Jolo, where Muslim gunmen have threatened to start beheading their foreign hostages.
The exodus was taking place even as security was tightened around the Abu Sayyaf's mountain base in Talipao, where the 21 captives from seven nations were taken after their abduction from Sipadan.
Civilians fear the rebels hiding in the predominantly-Muslim island could use them as shields if attacked by government troops.
Jolo Mayor Razdi Abu Bakar said many businessmen, particularly the ethnic Chinese, and Christian families were leaving, fearful they might be taken hostage as well.
"There has been no action, no precautionary measures and preventative measures taken against these terrorists," he said.
Kidnapping and smuggling are common in Jolo, where fishing and commodity trading are the key legal earners.
"It is possible that the Abu Sayyaf people from the mountains are mingling now with the population in Jolo," Razdi said, expressing regret that the police and military "have not been dealing with the terrorists head on."
He said in recent months that businessmen had scaled down their activity in the Sulu islands.
"There are not enough remedial measures to assure businessmen they are safe," he said, adding that many Chinese Catholics had told him they would shelve their business plans.
Sulu police director Senior Superintendent Candido Casimiro said suspected rebel camps at the four towns near the group's mountain base had been cordoned off.
But he said the rebels could slip through the numerous rivers cutting across the towns.
Around 600 policemen had been dispatched to keep watch on areas surrounding the rebel camps.
The police force was joined by military men, mostly rebel-turned-soldiers of the MNLF.
Some of these soldiers fired warning shots yesterday to stop journalists and officials of non-government organizations, who were accompanied by town policemen, from entering the perimeter of the Abu Sayyaf base.
"We were blocked by MNLF integrees. They don't want media coverage because it might hamper or jeopardize ongoing negotiations," said Talipao police chief Rudy Yusop. "They fired at us." --