Tourist spots watched

Police units have been dispatched to the popular Boracay island in Aklan amid warnings that Abu Sayyaf terrorists are looking for new hostages, a military intelligence source said yesterday.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has advised all its units, especially those monitoring popular beach resorts, to be on alert for another kidnapping spree by the Abu Sayyaf group, which has just run out of hostages. Military sources said it is possible that the Abu Sayyaf remain in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte, where the government troops caught up with them last Friday.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina said yesterday that the police are focusing on resorts that, like the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan, are accessible to the bandits. Dos Palmas was the resort where the Abu Sayyaf took 20 hostages, including Martin and Gracia Burnham, on May 27 last year.

"We are not taking any intelligence information lightly," Espina said. "Lahat ng natatanggap naming report tinitingnan natin. Mahirap na baka malusutan tayo (We’re looking at all reports because they might pull a fast one)."

But Espina refused to give specific names of the resorts or areas the PNP thinks are the most likely targets of the Abu Sayyaf group.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Melchor Rosales, the defense department spokesman, said additional troops arrived yesterday in Jolo, Sulu. This was the latest batch of troops to be deployed during the "search and destroy" operation against the Abu Sayyaf.

The military is using several K-9 dogs to help soldiers track down the Abu Sayyaf members on the run in the vast jungle of Sirawai, Rosales said. Riverine troops of the Special Forces of the Army and the SWAG elements of the Navy are patrolling the waters in the areas of the operation, he added.

Soldiers and local police have tightened security in the vital installations and popular areas of the locations prone to the Abu Sayyaf attack, Rosales said.

"The PNP and the local government officials have likewise taken steps to secure the areas of communities vulnerable to the ASG attacks," he said.

Sirawai Mayor Romeo Cariño has issued orders to barangay captains to monitor suspicious activities, Rosales said. Meanwhile,

PNP Senior Superintendent Marcelino Lipana, chief of the Zamboanga del Norte police, also sent officers to Sibuco and Siocon to protect the towns. Central Visayas police director, Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon, has also put police officers in the region on alert.

"Our move is only to prevent them from entering our area of responsibilities, hindi ibig sabihin na nakapasok na ang Abu Sayyaf dito sa Visayas (it doesn’t mean that they’re already here)," Razon said.

Espina said the police and the army are not discounting the "strong possibility" that the bandits would try to leave Sirawai and head for the open sea, where they can regroup with their peers in Basilan or Sulu.