4 Sayyaf men fall

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Authorities have presented four captured members of the Abu Sayyaf, who were said to have been involved in kidnappings in two resorts in Malaysia and Palawan a few years ago.

The four were identified as Michael Pajiji, Abdullah Masuhud, Kissinger Hocson Tan alias Abu Huraira, and Alih Alkis alias Abu Jarin.

Brig. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, chief of Task Force Comet which has been pursuing the extremist group, said Pajiji, a follower of Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, had a P150,000 prize on his head for his role in the abduction of mostly foreign tourists in the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in April 2000.

Pajiji told reporters yesterday that he joined the notorious group in 2002 because of poverty.

"I was forced by circumstances to join the Abu Sayyaf because I really needed money to save my child who unfortunately died," he said in the Tausug dialect.

Tan and Alkis were involved in the abduction of vacationers in a Puerto Princesa City, Palawan resort in May 2001, while Masuhud took part in the massacre of 21 Marines in Tuburan, Basilan, according to Chief Superintendent Servando Hizon, Region 9 (Western Mindanao) police director.

During interrogation, Alkis confessed having participated in the abduction of American Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert, after he traveled to an Abu Sayyaf camp in Sulu in August 2000.

Schilling, of Oakland, California, escaped after almost eight months in captivity.