3 civilians get P1.5 M for giving info on Sayyaf suspects

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The military handed over yesterday a total of nearly P1.5 million in reward money to four men who tipped off government forces and led to the arrest of four Abu Sayyaf members.

Salip Halipa, Abraham Jumdaini, Jeffrey Lao and Michael Pajiji were arrested in separate operations in 2003 and 2004.

Col. Domingo Tutaan, chief of staff of the military’s Southern Command, said Halipa is one of the commanders of Abu Sayyaf senior leader Khaddafy Janjalani, who remains at large and is the subject of an ongoing military manhunt.

The informant who led the military to Halipa — arrested in March 2003 — received a reward of P1 million. The other three informants received P150,000 each.

Halipa was among the band of Abu Sayyaf gunmen that swooped down on a beach resort in Palawan and abducted three Americans and several Filipinos in 2001.

One of the Americans, Guillermo Sobero, was later beheaded. Another American, Martin Burnham, was killed the following year during a military rescue attempt. His wife, Gracia, was rescued by troops.

Halipa was also involved in a mass kidnapping of teachers and schoolchildren in Sumisip, Basilan in March 2000.

Pajiji is an alleged henchman of Abu Sayyaf senior leader Ghalib Andang, who was killed along with several other Abu Sayyaf members during a failed jailbreak in March.

Yesterday, newly appointed Armed Forces chief Gen. Generoso Senga flew to Zamboanga City and met with Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza and discussed the ongoing military efforts to hunt down the rest of the Abu Sayyaf.

"We hunt against terrorists without letup," Senga told reporters. Senga was ordered by President Arroyo to wipe out the rest of the Abu Sayyaf, which has been loosely linked to al-Qaeda by the Philippine and US governments.

Washington considers the Abu Sayyaf a terrorist organization.

In February, 13 people died and over 100 were wounded in three nearly simultaneous bomb attacks in the cities of Davao, General Santos and Makati. The Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility.

The bombings were the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines since the Feb. 27, 2004 sinking of a passenger ferry, in which over a hundred were killed.

A bomb believed planted by the Abu Sayyaf started a fire that sank the SuperFerry 14 in Manila Bay.