EDITORIAL - Waiting for rescue

Swiss kidnap victim Andreas Notter is back in his country while his Filipino colleague in the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jean Lacaba, has been reunited with her family. Only Eugenio Vagni of Italy is left – remember him? Senior Superintendent Julasiri Kasim, police chief of Sulu, remembered, and was pursuing the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers when he and his men walked into an ambush over a week ago. Kasim and three of his escorts were killed.

A day after the ambush, authorities reported losing all contact with Vagni and his kidnappers. The 62-year-old Italian has been in captivity for over 120 days now. He is reportedly in dire need of medical treatment. The military said Vagni’s kidnappers have splintered into small groups, complicating the pursuit.

When this latest caper is resolved, the government should not leave any breathing space for the Abu Sayyaf to reorganize or enjoy whatever it might have earned from the kidnapping. The group had been weakened by the deaths or capture of most of its top commanders, but it regained notoriety with the kidnapping of the ICRC workers. The attack was particularly reprehensible because it targeted an unescorted, unarmed vehicle clearly bearing the universally recognizable logo of the Red Cross, and carrying volunteers.

Aid workers are among the handful of people who still bother to go to the lawless hinterlands of Sulu, one of the poorest provinces in this country. Major investors do not dare go there. Most teachers are scared to be assigned in the province. The military has been asked if its personnel can perform other government functions for lack of public servants who are willing to work in Sulu. That fear, heightened by the assassination of the provincial police chief, guarantees that poverty and underdevelopment will persist in the province. This in turn creates a fertile breeding ground for banditry and violence. The cycle has to be broken, starting with the long overdue extermination of the Abu Sayyaf.