August 7, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu Sayyaf shopping for heavy weapons, by Carlito Pablo,

August 7, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu Sayyaf shopping for heavy weapons, by Carlito Pablo,

 

"WE now have enough men and guns" to burn the town of Jolo or even Zamboanga City if the government launches an offensive to rescue the remaining hostages in Sulu, Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang bragged yesterday.

 

Wading in loot from ransom payments that are estimated to have passed the $5-million (P220-million) mark, the Abu Sayyaf has put out word that it is willing to pay top peso for heavy weapons like rocket launchers, mortars and machine guns, according to military intelligence reports.

 

The hostage takers have even drawn up a price list, offering to buy arms in the black market at inflated prices, defense sources told the INQUIRER.

 

And the gunmen, who seem to see themselves as untouchable, are growing stronger, bolder and richer, with the government having few options against them.

 

Should President Estrada decide to order an offensive to rescue the hostages in Sulu, "we are prepared to fight them," Andang said in a taped message to reporters. Andang, aka Commander Robot, also boasted, "we now have money, we now have enough men and guns" to meet the military head on. "If the military launches an operation against us, they are not after a peaceful solution. We are also preparing for that,"

 

Andang said. "If they launch an operation against us, we may be forced to burn the town of Jolo or (nearby) Zamboanga City," he stressed. Although official negotiators insist no ransom is being paid, it is an open secret that the Abu Sayyaf has received huge amounts of money for the six Malaysians, five Filipinos and two Germans they have freed piecemeal in recent weeks. The lure of sharing the loot has boosted the Abu Sayyaf's ranks in Jolo from about 70 before April to more than 2,000 today, military sources say.

 

Local residents openly speak about known Abu Sayyaf members coming to town with bags of crisp, new thousand-peso bills.

 

Many of them used the money to buy even more guns to fight off any possible government attack.

 

The intelligence reports confirm that prices of rifles in Sulu have shot up because of the kidnappers' arms buying spree.

 

Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, one of the government negotiators, said that even if all the hostages were to be freed unharmed, he would be left to deal with a larger, better-armed Abu Sayyaf, ready for worse mischief.

 

"This is going to be my problem, if they will have money and they will start buying guns, they will have much, much more resources and there will be much, much work to do," he said. Guns, guns, guns

 

The gunmen are offering to pay P48,000 apiece for M-16 rifles, the standard weapon of the Armed Forces. The government lists the price of the M-16 as P25, 000.

 

The most expensive rifle being sought by the kidnappers is the Ultimax, a light machine gun, and their offered price is P280,000. An Ultimax costs around P93, 000.

 

Also included in the Abu Sayyaf's shopping list is a "baby" M-16 outfitted with a grenade launcher, the M-203, for which the group is offering P210,000. A similar grenade launcher from the government's arsenal costs only P30,000.

 

The reports also indicate that the kidnappers are offering to buy 90-mm recoilless rifles--anti-tank rocket launchers--at P450, 000 apiece.

 

Another weapon of choice is the M-14 rifle, which the Abu Sayyaf is willing to purchase for P60, 000, although the gun carries a price tag of only P25, 000.

 

The gunmen are offering P200, 000 each for 81-mm mortars and P150, 000 each for smaller mortars. They are also interested in M-60 machine guns, which they are ready to purchase for P150, 000 apiece.

 

Although a World War II-vintage weapon, the M-1 Garand rifle used by snipers is also on their list. The Abu Sayyaf's price is P25, 000 apiece, compared to the P15, 000 that the government pays.

 

A military source speculated that the weapons would have to come from arms smugglers and the black market. With the country's porous borders in the South, that should not be difficult, according to the source.  

 

With impunity In their camps in Patikul and Talipao towns, just a short ride away from the military and police headquarters in Jolo, the Abu Sayyaf hostage takers move about with impunity, confident they cannot be touched even as they take more captives and demand bigger ransom payments.

 

Intelligence sources say the Bandang district in Talipao, where the Abu Sayyaf gunmen stashed most of their captives, has been renamed ''Camp Susukan" by the extremists in honor of the slain father of Abu Sayyaf leader Mujib Susukan.

 

Starkly different The kidnappers' present status is starkly different from the situation prevailing in the first days after the April 23 abduction of 21 Malaysian, Filipino, German, French, Finnish, South African and Lebanese hostages from Sipadan, Malaysia.

 

Back then, the military and police threw a cordon around the Abu Sayyaf hideout, leaving both kidnappers and hostages desperate for supplies as they moved from place to place, trying to evade security forces. However, in early May, government troops were forced to lift their cordon around the kidnappers due to complaints by negotiators that this circle of soldiers was hampering negotiations.

 

Despite calls for action among some officials, Manila has ruled out any use of force to rescue more than a dozen foreign and local hostages.

 

Thank Europeans

 

Largely, the kidnappers can thank the European governments that have citizens among the hostages for the kid-glove treatment they are enjoying.

 

"Pressure is really heavy from foreign governments. That is why military operations are not being pursued at this point," a source close to the negotiators said.

 

Since the hostage crisis broke out, a parade of European diplomats has visited Manila to seek assurances that their nationals will be unharmed.

 

Even when the Abu Sayyaf began seizing other hostages in Jolo, the government could not go after them for fear of disrupting negotiations over the Sipadan hostages.

 

"We're still on status quo on orders of the chief government negotiator Roberto Aventajado to stay away from the areas where there is the presence of Abu Sayyaf hostages," said Sulu police chief Supt. Candido Casimiro.

 

Unable to surround the bandits' hideout, the military and police have instead resorted to roadblocks at the entry points to Jolo in an attempt to keep the Abu Sayyaf from infiltrating. With a report from AFP