2 Filipino hostages beheaded

Abu Sayyaf bandits holding over two dozen Filipino and American hostages in Basilan have beheaded two more of their captives and dumped their bodies in a forest in the outskirts of the capital town of Isabela. Their heads have not yet been recovered.

The victims’ hands were tied behind their backs. A note written in blood on the shirt of one of the bodies said: "Commander Robot is in Basilan and will chop off heads."

Robot is Ghalib Andang, leader of another Abu Sayyaf faction who masterminded the raid on the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in Borneo on Easter Sunday last year.

Andang has reportedly offered to surrender if ensured of a fair trial.

Relatives identified the headless bodies as those of Primitivo Falcasantos, 48, and Crisanto Suelo, security guard and laborer, respectively of Golden Harvest Inc., a plantation in Lantawan town where the bandits seized 15 people last June 11.

Norma Baguio, sister of Falcasantos, said she suspected he was executed because they did not have the money to pay the ransom demanded by the abductors.

Baguio said her brother has not been paid his salary for seven months, and accused the government of apathy to their plight.

"Why did they kill them? Is it because we’re just poor and can’t give ransom?" a weeping Baguio asked.

Relatives of other hostages aired similar sentiments against the government.

Tarsi Malonzo, whose daughter Reina was among those snatched from a hospital in Lamitan where the victim worked as a nurse, said President Arroyo promised her assistance during last Monday’s visit to Basilan.

"But since then, there has been no communication. No one has come to help us," Malonzo said.

Despite the government’s avowed no-ransom policy, Malonzo said the 11 hostages who had been freed earlier belonged to "well-off" families.

"We have no money. Where would we get ransom?" she said.

"We can see the trend. Little by little, they free the hostages. We suspect there must be ransom paid. What about the poor ones who can’t pay ransom?"

The President has declared "no ransom, no negotiations, no mercy" against the Abu Sayyaf terrorists who snatched 17 Filipinos and three Americans from Dos Palmas resort in Palawan on May 27, four more from a hospital in Lamitan on June 2, and 15 workers from the Golden Harvest Inc.

Eleven of the Dos Palmas hostages were either rescued or freed, while two others were executed earlier, one of them decapitated.

The bandits have also claimed to have beheaded Guillermo Sobero, a 40-year-old Californian of Peruvian descent, but his body has yet to be found. Sobero was snatched from Dos Palmas.

The two other Americans are Martin Burnham and his wife Gracia, both Christian missionaries from Wichita, Kansas. They are reportedly ill with malaria.

Basilan police director Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan said the remains of Falcasantos and Suelo were discovered by local residents about 5 a.m. yesterday. The victims appeared to have been killed a few hours earlier.

Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the Armed Forces’ Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, said the beheadings were apparently in retaliation for the decapitation of two suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in Lantawan on Friday afternoon.

Servando warned the Basilan townsfolk against taking the law into their hands. "We have our law enforcers and duly constituted authorities to arrest any Abu Sayyaf suspects," he said.

Three beheaded bodies were also found earlier this week in Basilan, but the military doubted they were the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf.

Beheading, however, is a ruthless trademark of the Muslim extremist group that claims to be fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

Mrs. Arroyo has deployed more than 5,000 troops to Basilan to go after the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers led by Abu Sabaya and Khadaffi Janjalani.

At a command conference on Thursday attended by her top security advisers, the President approved the release of additional P1.4 billion for the military, and the recruitment of 10,000 more militias to support the troops in combating Muslim separatists and communist guerrillas.