| AFP loosens noose
around Sayyaf neck By Marian Trinidad
Government
negotiators yesterday confirmed that military and police forces were ordered withdrawn
from areas known to be controlled by the Abu Sayyaf terrorists.
The negotiators
would not reveal the exact reason for the order but insiders said this was being made to
facilitate the release of the hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf bandits.
The negotiators
however admitted that removal of the military cordon has placed the government in a weak
position as it negotiates with the Abu Sayyaf group for the release of the remaining
mostly foreign Sipadan hostages.
As this developed,
Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan said that he is ready to face any investigation on his
reported connections with the abduction of 21 foreign tourists from Malaysia’s
Sipadan Island off Sabah on April 23.
“The
government should really conduct a probe on us so everyone will know what the truth is. As
of now, everything remains as gossip,” Tan told THE MANILA TIMES.
In a telephone
interview, Tan confirmed reports that the military has totally abandoned its posts in Sulu
based on the request of the government negotiating body being led by chief negotiator
Robert Aventajado.
He said that the
request was made primarily to ease the bandit group’s apprehension that a military
operation will be ordered by the government after all 12 remaining hostages have been
freed.
“The main
objective here is to get the hostages immediately and safely,” Tan said.
He however,
stressed that if no hostages would be released within the next few days, negotiators will
be forced to ask the AFP to reestablish its camp in the province, particularly around
Patikul where the rebels are holding the captives, to put pressure on the Abu Sayyaf.
“The Armed
Forces has been tolerant and supportive of us (negotiators). It was a decision made by the
negotiating body. But we are continually reassessing our position because without the
cordon, our position as we negotiate is weak,” he said.
Tan however, said
that while the AFP has pulled out of Sulu, the military has positioned itself in a
strategic area where its personnel can easily be deployed.
“They are
(not too) far. They were recalled yes… but they are just watching from a distance,”
Tan said.
Police and
military sources earlier tagged Tan and Lee Peng Wee as among the four prominent
Mindanao-based politicians and businessmen who planned the abduction of the foreigners for
political and monetary gains.
The Sulu governor
has reportedly denied reports that government negotiators and emissaries have been
receiving hefty commissions from the ransom paid to the abductors.
“On that
issue, still, I’m challenging these people to prove that we or other negotiators are
receiving anything of that kind,” Tan said.
He tagged
political rivals who envy him and other negotiators as the possible people behind the
reports.
Libya yesterday
said it has not produced rebels among the Filipino Muslims it has granted scholarship in
the past.
Libyan Ambassador
to the Philippines Salem Adam told THE MANILA TIMES that the scholarship grant of the
international Islamic society is not new and that it is an offer to all Muslim minorities
all over the world for studies of Islamic course in Libya.
“We
have no intention, we have no contact with any rebels. What we have graduated were very
well-known to Philippine Embassy in Tripoli. All have graduated and all are participating
in different parts of Mindanao including Luzon and Visayas. They are not creating any
trouble. We haven’t had any certain graduates in Libya who are engaged in any kind of
trouble, these are just propaganda and they’re trying to blackmail Libya,” Adam
told THE TIMES.
Among the famous
Libyan scholars were Abdurarjak Abubakar Janjalani alias Abu Sayyaf and former commander
of the Moro National Liberation Front and now Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar.
--Charmaine C. Deogracias
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