Arroyo to visit Palawan, Basilan today

ZAMBOANGA CITY — President Arroyo is expected to meet with the military high command at the Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters today to devise new strategies against Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva arrived here yesterday to review the situation with field commanders ahead of his meeting with the President.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the President will fly to Palawan at 7 a.m. and meet with officials of the Puerto Princesa City-based Armed Forces Western Command (Wes-com).

From Puerto Princesa, Mrs. Arroyo will proceed to the Edwin Andrews Air Base here before flying by helicopter to battle-scarred Lamitan, Basilan to inspect repair works in the town where the military had an intense fight with the bandits.

The town’s church and hospital were severely damaged on June 2 after the military laid siege on the buildings where the bandits were holed up in search of medical assistance and allegedly collected ransom from one of the 20 hostages they seized from Palawan.

After the inspection, the President will have a closed-door luncheon meeting with local officials at the Claret High School, one of two schools which the bandits raided in March last year to kidnap several schoolchildren and teachers.

Mrs. Arroyo is expected to announce a scholarship program for the students who were abducted from the other school in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip town.

She is also scheduled to meet with the family of T/Sgt. Enrique Manuel who was killed during the Lamitan siege along with Army Lt. Kenneth Bulong.

The Manuel family had publicly expressed disappointment at the President for giving "preferential attention" to the families of military officers killed in the ongoing military operation while ignoring lower-ranking troopers who were also killed in action.

Tiglao, however, could not confirm if Ghalib Andang, the leader of a separate Abu Sayyaf faction, would also surrender to the President.

Security in Basilan has been tightened ahead of Mrs. Arroyo’s visit with the military and the Presidential Security Group (PSG) setting up checkpoints along the sole highway.

At the same time, 10 people suffered severe burns in a freak accident as they were preparing an arch to welcome Mrs. Arroyo to the city.

The victims, all residents of Armour Village in Barangay San Roque here, were electrocuted as they were raising the welcome arch made of steel pipes and corrugated bars when the arch hit a power line.

"They were thrown off like rags by the heavy voltage," police quoted witnesses as saying. The victims are still under observation at the Brent Hospital and Camp Navarro General Hospital.

More than 5,000 government troopers were deployed to the island over the past three weeks in search of several hundred bandits and their 26 hostages, including three Americans.

The security situation on the island has deteriorated since the bandits emerged at the eastern part of the island with the 20 captives they seized from a resort in Palawan.

Even priests on the island have called on the Catholic faithful to stock up on arms and ammunition instead of buying home appliances.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo said the priests’ call to arms is "understandable and morally defensible but not an ideal action."

Quevedo said Lamitan curé Rev. Cirilo Nacorda was justified in going about his priestly duties with a rifle and some bodyguards since he has already been kidnapped twice and his personal safety was under constant threat.

The CBCP leader noted that both Christians and Muslims on the island fear for their lives, families and properties despite the presence of thousands of soldiers and police.

The government has also began arming civilian militiamen to help the military quell banditry in the island province.

Screen CAFGU recruits, DILG asked

But former Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Lisandro Abadia urged the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to strictly screen new recruits to the militia group Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU).

Abadia noted that during his watch as Armed Forces chief, he also employed CAFGUs in insurgency operations against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) and brought down their number from 26,000 to 6,000 rebels.

"The CAFGUs eliminated the capability of the NPA and other insurgents to set up camps and training centers," Abadia said.

He also said he has employed the CAFGU in driving out the Abu Sayyaf from Basilan to neighboring but smaller Sulu island, reducing their number to about 50 bandits.

"It is correct to induce the community to get involved in the protection of their areas from lawless elements," he said, adding, however, that not everybody should be given firearms. - With Sandy Araneta