Abu Sayyaf outwits RP military?

Abu Sayyaf outwits RP military?

MANILA: A week after the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 20 people from the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan, government forces had the bandits where they wanted them to be. In what looked like a fatal miscalculation, the kidnappers swooped down Saturday on St. Peter's Church in Lamitan, Basilan, took a priest and several others hostage, and then took over a nearby hospital apparently to seek treatment for some of its wounded leaders.

By late afternoon, government forces had the area surrounded, prompting President Macapagal to declare that the bandits were cornered and that military was ready to wipe them out.

Just hours after the President spoke, all hopes vanished of terminating the crisis quickly and exterminating the terrorist group completely. Shortly after midnight, the raiders, who have been masquerading as Muslim fundamentalist rebels, with several hostages in tow escaped under cover of darkness and amid a hail of gunfire. When the firing ended at around 4 p.m. that Sunday morning, the Abu Sayyaf had vanished into the more friendly forest. Government troops found a badly damaged church, an empty hospital and a very disappointed public that was demanding answers to some very embarrassing questions.

What happened? How did the Abu Sayyaf manage to escape when government troops had the area surrounded?

Well, they hadn't. On Tuesday AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan admitted that government troops had not sealed off the area. "It takes time to put up a cordon," he said.

Adan earlier told the media that between 60 and 100 Abu Sayyaf bandits had provided cover for their escaping comrades and hostages. He said the kidnappers used their hostages as "human shields," preventing the troops from engaging them in a gun battle. "There was a trade-off here because we didn't want the hostages hurt," he said.

However, a Marine officer was quoted as saying there was apparently a breakdown of communications that misled everyone into thinking that the place had been sealed off. Some residents said the Abu Sayyaf walked out of the compound unmolested.

A retired general expressed disbelief over the military's claim that the troops could not fire at the fleeing bandits for fear of hitting the hostages. He pointed out that Scout Rangers were among the troops assigned to seal off the area and these soldiers are "trained good shots." The more likely explanation for the incredible escape of the bandits was "a failure of command," he said. "The ground commander obviously did not consider that the main objective of the Abu Sayyaf was to escape."

If so the entire rescue operation has been one failure after another. While military officials have noted that the Abu Sayyaf seems better equipped than the AFP, it is becoming clear that this may only explain the bandits' daring but hardly the government's inability to stop their criminal activities.

For instance, the Abu Sayyaf raiders went to Dos Palmas in a kumpit powered by a modern Volvo engine that could slice the water at 40 knots an hour. That might explain why the Philippine Navy couldn't catch up with the group as it made its way to Cagayan de Sulu.

But from then on it was a slow boat to their home base in Basilan, according to a fisherman whose boat was commandeered by the bandits that very same day. Julian Rayla said the Abu Sayyaf intercepted their boat, which already had 10 other fishermen on board, and used it to bring their hostages to Basilan.

The trip took two days and two nights, Rayla said, and all the time they saw no signs of the military blockade that government was supposed to have put up precisely to prevent the bandits from reaching their sanctuaries in Basilan or Sulu. What happened to all the boats and aircraft the AFP was supposed to have dispatched to find the Abu Sayyaf and their hostages?

Clearly the government forces have been outwitted and outmaneuvered by the Abu Sayyaf. And not only once, but twice in this kidnapping episode. These mistakes have not only been very embarrassing to the government forces but also very costly in terms of human lives.

To date, at least 16 soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel and a captain, have been killed in several encounters with the Abu Sayyaf. Two hostages have also been beheaded by the bandits in reprisal for the government's pursuit and rescue operations, and seven civilians have been killed in the crossfire. Instead of dampening their spirit, this series of setbacks should spur the troops to finish the fight. That's the only way the military can redeem itself from the blunders that have brought it so much embarrassment and grief.

-- Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network