ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) troops have stepped up their drive against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. They have killed 17 of the outlaws, including two relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron, while 18 soldiers have been wounded, the AFP said this last weekend.
The troops pushed their drive against the Abu Sayyaf in the hinterlands of Sulu as well as in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi after the body of German hostage Jurgen Kantner was recovered in Sitio Talibang, Barangay Buanza, in Indanan, Sulu.
He had been beheaded last February 26, 30 minutes after a deadline set by the outlaw group for the payment of P30-million ransom. The body was recovered Saturday night in Indanan.
We would have preferred to hear of the all-out drive against the Abu Sayyaf before the beheading of Kantner. It might have – just possibly – harassed the outlaws enough to save the German even for just a few days more. But it was not to be and now we are back to where we were before.
The outlaw group is said to be holding around 21 other hostages of various nationalities. Any day now, we may hear of a new beheading threat and a new deadline which the government will answer with the usual statement that payment of ransom is against government policy. Stepped-up military operations will be launched, especially if the hostage is a foreigner, like the two Canadians kidnapped in Samal Gulf in 2015 and the German Kantner who was seized from his yacht off the coast of Sabah last November.
The government is moving decisively to deal with major outlaw groups in Mindanao, such as the New People’s Army (NPA), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Peace talks are expected to resume soon with the NPA through the National Democratic Front, while the MNLF and MILF may soon have an autonomous region under a federal system of government being pushed by the Duterte administration.
That leaves the smaller outlaw groups like the Abu Sayyaf, which the AFP has pledged to wipe out in six months. The beheading of Kantner was a big setback for the Armed Forces, but we continue to hope and expect that they will make that six-month deadline which they assured President Duterte they would meet.
