Muslim religious leaders: It was Allah’s wrath

COTABATO CITY — It was "the wrath of Allah" — senablaw in the local dialect — that killed the 17 accused Abu Sayyaf terrorists who took fellow inmates hostage last Monday at the Metro Manila Rehabilitation Center (MMRC) in Bicutan in Taguig City, Islamic leaders in Central Mindanao said yesterday.

"If you go astray and follow the path to wickedness, you will be punished," said a grand mufti (preacher) in a nearby North Cotabato town, who asked not to be named.

At least nine of 14 Islamic missionaries interviewed by The STAR said the government was right in using force to quell the mutiny after it had exhausted all peaceful means to convince the Abu Sayyaf terrorists to surrender.

"We even ought to congratulate the policemen involved in the successful neutralization of the mutineers," said a 59-year-old imam in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

Among those killed in the assault were Ghalib Andang, Alhamser Limbong and Nadjmi Sabdula, alias commanders Robot, Kosovo and Global, respectively.

Islamic religious leaders said the slain Abu Sayyaf detainees were struck with senablaw for perverting Islam in justifying atrocities such as kidnapping.

"It is a big sin in Islam to deliberately misinterpret the teachings in the Holy Quran to justify killing of innocent civilians, Muslims and Christians alike, to bomb public places and kidnap people to achieve political or religious objectives," said a Maranaw preacher who asked to be identified only as Samir, and who belongs to the Tabglegh, a congregation of preachers performing missionary work in far-flung communities.

An ustadz in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s executive department said the government must not be alarmed by possible reactions from Muslims in Basilan and Sulu where most of the 17 slain hostage-takers are from.

"No Muslim, in his proper frame of mind, will openly sympathize with people who belong to a virtually satanic organization," said the ustadz, an ethnic Tausug.

In a statement, the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council said the "neutralization" of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists to end the prison siege was a "clear depiction of the battle between good and evil."

Why Was Robot Killed? — Lawmaker

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Joel Virador yesterday raised questions about the killing of Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, who was among the hostage takers at the MMRC.

Virador said he learned from Andang, when he celebrated Eid’l Fitr with Moro detainees last year, about the alleged involvement of civilian and military officials in collusion with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in numerous terrorist activities in Mindanao.

He said Andang had told him the kidnapping of Jeffrey Schilling was actually staged and that the American was actually a CIA agent providing training to the Abu Sayyaf.

Virador said many of the Moro detainees, who were mostly Tausug, also told him they were tortured by the military into confessing to the crimes with which they were charged.

"The rash and inordinate use of force by the police and military to resolve the hostage crisis has effectively quashed any prospect of determining the real reasons behind the incident," he said.

"It has also imperiled the resolution of numerous pending cases lodged against the detainees, especially considering that most of them could have been falsely accused and used as unwilling scapegoats."

The detainees also decried that they had languished in jail for more than four years because of continued inaction by the Department of Justice, he added.

Andang was privy to critical information on the background and workings of the Abu Sayyaf, as well as a prime suspect in the Sipadan kidnappings.

Commander Robot, as he was also known, had been partially disabled after losing a leg to surgical amputation. Troops had shot him in the leg during a raid in his hideout in Sulu last year.

‘Criminals Have Human Rights Too’

On the other hand, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said yesterday that although the slain Abu Sayyaf inmates were considered criminals, they had inalienable human rights granted to them by law, including the United Nations Charter.

The Abu Sayyaf detainees should have been given the right to due process, speedy trial, food and water, and to practice their religious belief, according to Mohammad Ameen, secretary of the office of MILF chairman Al Hadj Murad on the MILF website luwaran.com.

Fr. Robert Reyes, an activist Catholic priest, meanwhile blamed the PNP’s "apparent lack of patience" for the violent resolution of the hostage crisis.

Reyes said the assault at the MMRC could be compared to the fate of Filipino Robert Tarongoy who is being held by Iraqi militants.

"If you are a negotiator, one of your virtues should be patience to fault," he said. "Could you imagine what would have happened to Robert Tarongoy if his captors had ran out of patience?

Reyes said new Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Arturo Lomibao must remedy the "attitudinal problem" of the police.

"There is an attitudinal problem in the PNP," he said. "It is a bad start for Lomibao. He should rectify himself. He should train his men to become good negotiators."

Reyes said Lomibao also should improve on the PNP’s intelligence gathering to prevent a repeat of the hostage-taking incident.

"(The PNP) knew about it (the jailbreak plot) last December pa," he said.

"But having known about it does not exonerate them. Who is showing better intelligence here? In the few times that Abu Sayyaf bandits have tried to escape, they have shown better intelligence."

A new wave of violence could occur in Mindanao and possibly in Metro Manila following the assault, Reyes said. — With reports from Lino dela Cruz, Mike Frialde