RP resort abduction renews Abu Sayyaf terror
By Girlie Linao
MANILA (DPA): The weekend abduction of 20 tourists and workers from a western Philippine resort has brought back memories of terror unleashed by Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf rebels during a kidnapping spree last year.
The May 27 raid on Dos Palmas resort in Palawan province, 600 kilometers south of Manila, was done in the same swift and precise style as the attack on Malaysia's Sipadan island resort in April 2000, when the rebels seized 21 people.
Like last year, the hostages -- three Americans and 17 Filipinos -- were herded to a speedboat and spirited under the cover of darkness to the southern island of Jolo, the Abu Sayyaf's bailiwick.
The Dos Palmas captives include an American missionary couple who have been serving in the Philippines since 1986 and an 8-year-old boy with weak lungs.
From a dream vacation, the hostages could face the same terrifying experience that German, French, South African and Finnish tourists endured for more than five months in the jungles of Jolo after they were seized from Sipadan.
"We hope that this will not be a repeat of last year's crisis," said a police intelligence officer in Jolo. "But given the hardline policy of the government not to negotiate with the kidnappers, the hostages are definitely in for hard times."
Before negotiations were held for their release, the Sipadan captives had to ran away with their captors from pursuing troops in the jungles of Jolo, with bursts of gunfire and mortar shells barely missing them.
The uncertainty broke the spirits of even the strongest among the group, some of whom contemplated on suicide as an alternative.
Women hostages had to fight off threats of sexual assault throughout their captivity.
South African tourist Monique Strydom, who was abducted with her husband Carel, faked pregnancy to protect herself, while Filipino cook Lucrecia Dablo thought about agreeing to marrying a rebel commander to save herself.
The experience was far more dreadful for a group of Filipino hostages, mostly school children, teachers and including a Roman Catholic priest, abducted by a separate Abu Sayyaf unit in the nearby island province of Basilan.
The rebels beheaded two male teachers as a "birthday gift" to then president Joseph Estrada, and tortured Father Roel Gallardo and a female teacher before they were killed when the military attacked the Abu Sayyaf.
Gallardo was beaten up during captivity and his toenails were pulled out, while the extremists cut off a breast of a female teacher.
While concern is mounting for the conditions of the hostages, many Filipinos support President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's decision to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf.
"The terrorism must end one way or the other," the police officer said.
Arroyo stressed that her government will not pay a single centavo to the Abu Sayyaf rebels, who were believed to have collected more than US$17.5 million in ransom from their kidnappings last year.
"I know the Abu Sayyaf is only after money," she said. "They are mistaken in expecting this government to give them anything. No ransom money will be given them."
"Release your captives now that there is still time, otherwise bullets will rain down on you," she told the rebels.
Abu Sayyaf, or "Bearer of the Sword", has been notorious for such criminal activities as kidnap-for-ransom and extortion since it started as a shadowy insurgent group fighting for a separate Islamic state in 1992.
The rebel group joined the big league in 1994 when it raided a predominantly Christian town in Zamboanga del Sur province, killing 53 people and razing to the ground various business establishments.
Since then, the Abu Sayyaf has been belittled by the government as a ragtag gang of bandits. It has been blamed for numerous atrocities in the southern region of Mindanao, including a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul during a visit in Manila in 1995.