Abus mark 2009 with kidnappings in South

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The Abu Sayyaf, a small but most violent militant faction, will be leaving the year yet with trails of kidnapping even as it remained holding captive four hostages in Basilan.

The string of kidnappings also saw its biggest casualties, leaving dozens of widows and orphans. While there were claims the militants and their cohorts from the rogue rebels suffered huge fatalities, including few of their leaders, the military recovered a number of the slain rebels as most of the fallen enemies of the state were either dragged or buried behind.

The year started with the group that pulled yet the biggest and most infamous kidnapping of three officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Jan. 15 in Sulu and placed the Philippines in the world map as one of the most unsafe place for foreigners to travel.

The victims – Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter, and Italian Eugenio Vagni – were visiting the humanitarian water project in Patikul when they were taken by armed group syndicated by the Abu Sayyaf.

Lacaba and Notter were released separately in April while Vagni was kept for 176 days before he gained his freedom with score of soldiers’ lives wasted in search and rescue missions.

Their abduction also tested the invisibility of their being neutral that was not recognized by the Abu Sayyaf militants, which the US and the Philippine government tagged to have links with the Al-Qaeda and the Asia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

JI hands

During the ICRC kidnapping crisis, the police and military and even the provincial crisis management committee of Sulu discovered the hands of the JI in the kidnapping and lead the imposition of the state of emergency which somehow deterred the unabated abduction with the beheading of a school principal.

But the three were just part of the statistics of kidnappings perpetrated in 2009 in Western Mindanao, either by the Abu Sayyaf or syndicated armed groups with links to the secessionist group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), according to the military and police.

From January to November, at least 30 people have been abducted for ransom. Among the victims were three ICRC officials, a school principal in Sulu; six teachers from Zamboanga peninsula who ended in captivity in Basilan; three micro-finance workers, a school boy, and a Sri-Lankan peace worker, three coconut farmers, two fishermen in Basilan and a carpenter in this city but ended his captivity in Basilan.

Gunmen associated with the MILF also abducted Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott from his convent in Pagadian and brought him in Central Mindanao on Oct. 11; a young businessman Donald John Capili; three tugboat sailors in Zamboanga peninsula; and three plywood workers, including two Chinese nationals; and the Basilan State College vice president in Basilan.

Majority of the victims in the kidnappings ended their release in most cases paying their freedom but a few got beheaded for refusal to pay the ransom which the Abu Sayyaf and its kidnapping syndicates termed as “board and lodging” that ranges to millions of pesos.

Beheaded

Among those beheaded were Sulu school principal Gabriel Canizares; a coconut farmer in Basilan. The latest victim of execution was Mark Singson, one of the three plywood workers whose decapitated head was delivered in Isabela City plaza on Dec. 8, leaving his two Chinese companions Bo Shung Tan alias Michael Tan and Zi Shun Lu alias Oscar Lu alive.

While officials publicly denied money changed hands, the case for example of the three ICRC released after months of captivity was highly believed to have chipped in millions of ransom which figures went not lesser than P20-million.

Currently, at least four hostages remained in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf and its syndicated kidnapping groups in Basilan. This includes victims Dr. Orlando Fajardo, vice president of Basilan State College, two Chinese nationals and Capili.

Basilan Vice Gov. Al-Rasheed Saka-lahul, chairman of the crisis management committee said efforts continued for the early release of Fajardo while the freedom of the three others remained to be seen citing that the kidnappers refused to establish contacts with them.

“So far, our emissaries and the kidnappers have initiated contacts and hopefully the college official will be safely released without any money consideration,” Sakalahul said.