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September 24, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu Sayyaf hideout encircled, by Froilan Gallardo, Noralyn Mustafa

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September 24, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu Sayyaf hideout encircled, by Froilan Gallardo, Noralyn Mustafa and Alexander Young,

JOLO, Sulu--After the collapse of secret last-minute negotiations on Friday between two government emissaries and Abu Sayyaf kidnappers holding American hostage Jeffrey Schilling, battle-hardened Marines yesterday began encircling the captors' hideout in Luuk town in Sulu, according to Sulu Vice Gov. Munib Estino. 

Estino, the government's negotiator in the Schilling case, told the INQUIRER that the military suspended its Friday assault on the hideout of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Ahmad Salayuddin, alias Abu Sabaya, to allow two  local officials to negotiate for Schilling's release. 

The military asked Luuk Vice Mayor Ahmad Omar and Panamao town Vice Mayor Hadji Kudarat Abdulrajak to negotiate with Sabaya, Estino said. Abdulrajak saw the 24-year-old American captive on Friday, he added. Schilling's "hands were tied and he was tied in a corner. He was being treated worse than a dog," Estino said, adding that Abdulrajak observed that the hostage's hands and feet were covered with infected wounds. 

Villagers said they saw a gunman kicking Schilling from behind as they walked. ''All the people who saw Schilling pitied him,'' Estino said. Other sources here also confirmed that the California resident's hands and ankles were tied most of the time. When outsiders come to the bandit hideout, the American is quickly hidden from view, they said. 

The burly Schilling, who has reportedly received martial arts training, is so "aggressive" that his Abu Sayyaf guards are afraid to come near him, the sources said. Estino said Omar and Abdulrajak met with and had a lengthy discussion with Sabaya in a village near Luuk. 

But the officials, Estino said, failed to persuade Sabaya to release Schilling, even after warning him that the military would launch a commando-type raid to rescue the American. The failure of those talks marked the end of attempts to recover Schilling through peaceful means, the other sources said. "Sabaya did not demand anything. He only gave the negotiators a sermon about jihad and Islam," Estino said. The other sources said that Sabaya swore that his men would fight the military if they were cornered in an attack. The two officials left after sensing that the negotiations were going nowhere, Estino added. 

Marines move in 

Troops from the 1st Marine Brigade were seen marching from Talipao toward Luuk yesterday morning. Estino said that the troops were only "about 300 to 400 meters away" from Sabaya's hideout. His disclosure debunked an earlier claim of Sulu Rep. Asani Tammang that Abu Sayyaf leaders Khaddafy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya were able to escape by banca to nearby Basilan, bringing Schilling along. 

Estino said Sabaya reached Luuk by passing through Talipao town early this week. Sabaya has reportedly teamed up with another Abu faction leader, Radulan Sajiron, according to other sources. Combined, their men number around 500, all of whom are fully armed, the sources said. 

But Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Generoso Senga yesterday said that Sajiron, the one-armed "chief of staff" of the bandits, was seriously wounded on Monday and may have since died. Senga also said 28 Abu Sayyaf members had been confirmed killed. 

Anything that moves 

The military operation entered its second week yesterday, marking the fifth month since the Abu Sayyaf sparked the crisis by seizing 21 hostages, mainly foreigners, from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan. In Davao City, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, chair of the House committee on law and public order, said Friday that "anything that moves" in cordoned-off areas in Sulu should be considered members or supporters of the Abu Sayyaf and are legitimate targets. 

"All civilians who have nothing to do with the Abu Sayyaf should leave the area, otherwise, they can be mistaken for the Abu Sayyaf, or sympathizers or protectors of the Abu Sayyaf," he said. 

There were reports in Jolo that some civilians had been mistaken for Abu Sayyaf members and had been shot on sight. Evacuees from Talipao said that those left behind to bear the government air and ground assault, after the kidnappers fled their camps, were civilians who refused to abandon their homes and farms. 

Most of the victims, the evacuees said, were civilians who were not caught in the crossfire, but who were actually targets of the military. The reports were impossible to confirm. 

Hundreds flocked yesterday to town halls to secure residence certificates. Authorities have started rounding up men, even in the main town of Jolo, to require them to secure residence certificates in a ploy to weed out Abu Sayyaf members. 

'They're killing us all' 

There were also reports that Tausugs in the bombarded municipalities of Talipao, Maimbung, Patikul and Luuk-especially people whose relatives had been killed-were ready to take up arms and fight the government troops. "They're killing all of us, whether we're Abu Sayyaf members or civilians," a female evacuee from Barangay Karawan in Indanan said, quoting male villagers who had taken up arms against the military. 

"The men from the village said that since the troops are targeting civilians, too, it is better to die as martyrs," she said. "Children are traumatized and horrified. Their faces show fear of warplanes and mortar explosions," Hadja Mokiin Salic Malna, regional secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, told a radio station on Friday. 

Relief agencies were allowed to visit certain parts of Talipao town yesterday. "Once an emergency relief operation is in place, we will address the psychological (trauma) of civilians, especially children," Malna said. At least 15,000 people in Sulu have fled their homes, either to evacuation centers or by boat to Zamboanga City. 

2 Abu suspects 

The Philippine Coast Guard said it stopped two ferries off Jolo yesterday and intelligence sources said two suspected Abu Sayyaf members were taken off one boat. The MV Nickel Princely had come from Zamboanga City and was bound for the southernmost Tawi-Tawi islands. It was stopped as it passed Jolo, and forced to dock at the wharf in the main town. 

Two young men were taken off the boat escorted by heavily armed troops before the boat was allowed to proceed, witnesses said. Military intelligence sources said the two were suspected Abu Sayyaf members who might have been trying to flee the country. 

The Coast Guard later stopped another ferry bound for Tawi-Tawi, the MV Magnolia Fragrance, and forced it to dock in Jolo. The vessel was still there in the early afternoon. Tawi-Tawi has traditionally been a jumping-off point for people trying to flee to Sabah in Malaysia or to sneak into Jolo undetected. 

On deadline 

The military said a soldier was killed in a clash Friday night--the first fatality it has admitted on the government side since the attack was launched Sept. 16. The military says a total of 50-60 Abu Sayyaf members may have been killed, basing its information on intelligence reports. There has been no explanation of how so many kidnappers could have been killed with the loss of just one soldier. 

National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said yesterday that the military failed to meet its self-imposed one-week deadline to rescue 17 remaining hostages in Sulu and to crush the Abu Sayyaf because of "factors on the ground that may not be within our control." The new time frame for the costly operation remains unclear. 

Attributing the delay to rough terrain in Jolo and to the concern over risking civilian lives, Aguirre told a radio station: "The military said it can handle this in three days to one week. But it's one week now. The situation is still fluid." 

Robot's lawyer 

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said in a radio interview yesterday that President Estrada wanted the operations "ended as soon as possible". The statements were made as lawyer Oliver Lozano, in behalf of his client Abu Sayyaf chieftain Galib Andang, alias Commander Robot, said he had asked a regional court in Manila to intervene and halt the military assault. In his petition dated Sept. 22, Lozano asked the court to order Reyes "to stop the . . . bombings, the shoot-to-kill (order on) Galib Andang and his men" and to lift a news blackout on the attack. With reports from Edwin O. Fernandez and Jowel F. Canuday, PDI Mindanao Bureau; Inquirer wires

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