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June 3, 2001, The Philippine Star, Abus Kill 2 Hostages; Govt Troops Recapture Hospital,

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Fr. Cirilo Nacorda Lamitan

June 3, 2001, The Philippine Star, Abus Kill 2 Hostages; Govt Troops Recapture Hospital,

Basilan Island, June 3, 2001 - (STAR by Roel Pareño) Two hostages were executed, one of them beheaded, while five others managed to flee their Abu Sayyaf captors, bringing to nine the total number of Palawan captives who made a dash to freedom as fighting raged on the island of Basilan yesterday.

Meanwhile, some 60 to 100 Abu Sayyaf gunmen broke through a police-military dragnet in Lamitan, aided by reinforcements swarming in from the jungle, and fled back into dense forests.

The Lamitan police identified the slain hostages as Sonny Dacquer and Armando Bayona, both workers of the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan which was raided by 24 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf bandits on May 27.

Local priest Rene Enriquez, who was snatched from the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital the other day, joined the daring escape.

Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said the latest captives to regain their freedom — Letty Jao, Janice Ting Go, Luis Raul de Guzman Recio, Divine Recio and Teresa Ganzon — escaped under cover of darkness yesterday as government forces battled Abu Sayyaf gunmen who had captured a church-hospital compound in La-mitan and used some 200 people as human shields.

Ten fishermen who were shanghaied by the Abu Sayyaf raiders while on their way back to Mindanao after the raid in Dos Palmas were also rescued by the troops.

Lamitan police chief Senior Inspector Omar Adjid Dalawis said the decomposing bodies of Dacquer and Bayona, who was beheaded, were found in a secluded spot in Barangay Bolan-ting, Tuburan town yesterday afternoon. Fellow hostages reported that the two had been missing since Friday when the troops initiated skirmishes with the Abu Sayyaf.

The guerrillas led by Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya slipped through a military cordon of the hospital, using the backdoor and torching four houses to cover their escape, dashing authorities’ hope of bringing an early end to the eight-day-old hostage crisis.

When the troops recaptured the hospital at dawn, they found only three corpses, one of them an Abu Sayyaf rebel whose body was recovered from the belfry. The gunmen and their hostages that included priests, nuns, doctors, nurses, other hospital workers and patients, were gone.

Marines took control of the church at around 4 a.m. and found it deserted. The compound was littered with debris, while the walls were pockmarked with bullet holes.

"They escaped and brought the rest of our companions, including the three Americans," Go said.

She said the bandits retreated during the night while covering their escape with sporadic fire.

Four of the original 20 Palawan hostages fled their captors Saturday as the soldiers relentlessly pursued the bandits. They were construction executive Reghis Romero, his companion Ma. Rizza Santos, eight-year-old RJ Recio and security guard Eldrin Morales of the Dos Palmas resort at Honda Bay off Puerto Princesa.

Eleven of the Palawan hostages, among them American missionaries Martin Burnham, his wife Gracia and Guillermo Sobero, were still being held by the Abu Sayyaf.

Between 60 to 100 Abu Sayyaf suicide guerrillascoming from three directions, descended on Lamitan on Saturday, seized the St. Peter’s Church then herded their hostages which now included nuns and priests, to the adjacent hospital.

Ganzon told reporters they were tied with a rope like a chain gang. However, five of them managed to free themselves and dropped on the floor, merging with the local hostages in the hospital.

"Nakadapa kami at napahalo sa mga taga-rito kaya hindi na kami pinansin (We were lying face down along with the locals that’s why they (Abu Sayyaf bandits) ignored us)," she said.

Go said their captors kept on dragging the Americans.

"Personally, I don’t know Janjalani, only Sabaya," she added.

Lamitan Mayor Inocente Ramos took Ganzon’s group to his house before turning them over to Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar.

Ganzon, who earlier appealed on radio for a recall of the troops’ assault for fear of the hostages’ lives, said the continued fighting has placed them in serious danger.

Col. Lino Horacio Lapinid, the military’s spokesman for the entire operations, said the bulk of the Abu Sayyaf forces escaped under cover of darkness as their comrades held off the attacking soldiers.

Fr. Cirilo Nacorda, who was also kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in 1992 and has since then been a vocal critic of the extremist rebels, eluded the enemy by hiding in a toilet at the back of the church.

Enriquez said he was kept in a room with the three Americans.

He said Gracia sidled up to him and asked; "Are you a priest? Can you pray for us so we will be saved?"

"I will pray," he answered.

"Her voice was shaking. I saw fear in their faces," Enriquez recalled.

He said the Burnhams were in near tears, while Sobero was hugging another hostage.

Hospital administrator Antonio Aguilera said at least four hospital people were missing: two nurses, a midwife and an accounting clerk.

The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who style themselves as freedom fighters struggling for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao, have a history of torturing or beheading their hostages.

In April last year, the group decapitated two teachers who were among dozens of people snatched during a raid on two schools and a church in Lamitan. A third hostage, Catholic priest Roel Gallardo, was tortured to death and his fingernails plucked one by one. 

AFP gets flak for Abu escape

Local residents scored the military for allowing the Abu Sayyaf bandits to break through the military-police dragnet, but Lapinid clarified that the troops were ordered not to come too close to the buildings or fire indiscriminately because of the presence of civilian hostages.

Hundreds of heavily armed troops, backed by armored personnel carriers (APCs) and two helicopter gunships, ringed the church-hospital compound.

Police tried to storm the hospital several times, but were pushed back by heavy gunfire.

Lapinid assured the people that the troops would press their offensive against the Abu Sayyaf.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes told reporters in Zamboanga City that troops have pinpointed the location of the fleeing terrorists. "We know their location, but we cannot reveal (this) as this will pre-empt our operation."

He said President Arroyo has ordered the military to continue chasing the guerrillas, adding that the safety of the hostages remained a paramount concern.

She gave comfort to five of the hostages who were airlifted to Manila yesterday afternoon from Zamboanga on board a C-130 Air Force plane.

Mrs. Arroyo embraced Divine Recio, mother of RJ, minutes after the latest batch of freed hostages stepped off the plane. Recio was with her husband, the travel writer Raul aka Buddy, who had a discernible limp.

The President expressed confidence in the capabilities of the military.

"They (soldiers) have been dealing with this problem for some time, and we have seen that they are doing their best not to endanger the lives of the hostages," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"They are really using maximum restraint," she added.

Mrs. Arroyo reiterated her no-ransom policy.

"We will negotiate for their unconditional release, but no ransom. Negotiation is always part of military action, to convince them (that) the alternative is worse. Die now or face due process later," the President said.

Akbar said in a radio interview he had warned that troops of a possible escape by the Abu Sayyaf, citing his experience as a former rebel field commander himself.

He said the military officials assured him escape was impossible because the area had been cordoned off.

"I did not answer back," Akbar said.

Adan said the breakthrough was done under cover of darkness, "using diversionary attacks elsewhere...using their troops that are located outside the hospital compound."

A Marines officer said there was an apparent breakdown of communications, adding he thought the backdoor was also sealed.

Fighting raged overnight with the Abu Sayyaf using mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, forcing hundreds of civilians and journalists to flee in panic. Hot pursuit is correct, says Abadia

Former Armed Forces chief retired Gen. Lisandro Abadia said hot pursuit is the right thing to do to annihilate the Abu Sayyaf.

"There should be no letup in dismantling their forces," Abadia stressed.

At the same time, Abadia said the current threats to national security are a "wake up call for the country to be more aggressive in modernizing the military."

"The ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) is not a threat to national security, but its brazenness is a signal for the national leadership to have complete resolve in modernizing the AFP and the police forces," Abadia said in a statement.

He said the resurgence of the Abu Sayyaf is "the price we have to pay for that farcical no-ransom policy in the Sipadan kidnapping."

"In the solution of that Sipadan kidnapping, the ASG got millions of dollars even when the government made statements it was not paying ransom," he said.

Abadia recalled that when he retired, he left word not to allow the rebels to regroup, claiming that during his watch, the communist New People’s Army was decimated from 26,000 to only 6,000.

At the same time, he said, they drove the Abu Sayyaf from Basilan and reduced its strength to about 50 regular fighters, cornered in the mountains of Jolo.

Meanwhile, the military said 12 soldiers have been killed and 32 others wounded since fighting broke out on Friday morning.

The fatalities included an Army captain riding an APC that was hit by a rocket.

No exact figures of casualties on the Abu Sayyaf side were available, although the military estimated it to be heavy.

Military helicopters have begun dropping flyers on Basilan informing the people of the P100-million bounty raised by the government for the capture of Abu Sayyaf leaders.

The flyers showed soldiers blasting the Abu Sayyaf with cannons and helicopters with bags bearing the dollar symbol at their feet.

"There will be an end to all of this," the flyers stated.

Visiting US Sen. Richard Lugar lauded the relentless assault against the Abu Sayyaf as he urged the government to eliminate the menace once and for all.

He viewed the recurrent mass kidnapping by the Abu Sayyaf as "discouraging and frightening" and must be dealt with efficient police work and confidence in the leadership. –With Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude, Aurea Calica, Mayen Jaymalin, Rey Arquiza

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