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By Inday Espina-Varona and Dorian Zumel Sicat
First of 3 parts
ISABELA CITY—They’re a feisty people, these
Basileños. They talk of artillery shelling and ambuscades like
other people would discuss parties and mall trips. As Filipinos are
wont to, they make classic jokes about the state of their
island-province.
Provincial Crisis Management Committee spokesman
Chris Puno, is egged on by friends for some hilarious takes on
tourism broadcast commercials:
“If you want to die, come to Basilan. The
cheapest way to die in this country. Grab that chance. Contact Air
Basilan. Avail of our new promo – die now, pay later.”
“Basilan – island of peace. If you want to
rest in peace, come to Basilan.”
Beer bottles are raised in a small private
fishpond, bordered on two sides by Muslim villages. Guffaws rend the
night. Francis Democrito, a teacher, laughs hardest. Two years ago,
his brother, also a teacher, died in the aftermath of the Abu Sayyaf
raid on a school in Tuburan town.
Rage
That was the same raid that led to the death of
Claretian priest, Fr. Roel Gallardo. Extremist rebels took 50 tea-chers
and students hostage, retreated to their Sumisip mountain fortress,
killed dozens of Scout Rangers during a futile government siege of
their hideout, broke out of a military cordon, then savaged Gallardo
and two other teachers before escaping on the outskirts of this
city.
Democrito, called “Sir” everywhere by former
students, both Christians and Muslims, says rage still overcomes him
some days.
His brother and two other male teachers were
executed mid-way during the three-month hostage crisis.
“They didn’t torture him like they tortured
Fr. Gallardo, or hack at their body parts. But after seeing his
corpse, I wanted to go out and shoot every Muslim,” he confesses.
“But that doesn’t solve the problem. And I would have been
killing innocent Muslims.”
Radical break
Democrito, like many teachers here, is known as
a friend of Muslims. He and friends were shocked by his brother’s
death.
“When we heard the news of the kidnapping, I
shrugged and thought it was okay. Wala ‘yon. Mga kaibigan.
(That’s nothing. They’re friends.) Some of them (Abu Sayyaf)
were my students. Their families told me not to worry. I knew
Muslims spoke up for my brother.”
In a socio-religious culture that holds much
store on age, and seniority, the Abu Sayyaf represented a radical
break. Basilans had long considered kidnappings a part of life. But
for decades, ransom levels represented little more than living
expenses for the many armed groups roaming the island.
“After Tuburan, things changed,” says
Democrito. “At that point, we became a savage land. Old
friendships could no longer suffice.”
Atrocities
Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar, however, says Abu
Sayyaf atrocities began much earlier.
Since 1991 the ASG has kidnapped more than 300
people and killed more than 100. Their kidnap-for-ransom (KFR)
activities have earned more than $20 million.
In 1991, the ASG kidnapped the heir of a Basilan
transportation and coconut magnate, five-year-old Anthony Biel, and
a Claretian priest in the town of Isabela, capital of Basilan. The
priest, Bernardo Blanco (of Basque descent) ‘escaped’ his
captors under suspicious circumstances. Some insist that the ASG did
receive secret ransom payments for the release of Blanco and he was
actually ‘allowed’ to escape to conceal that fact.
One and a half years after his kidnap, little
Anthony Biel was released to authorities near the place where he was
kidnapped. He was taken down from the Sampinit Complex by an ASG
commander, handed over to a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
commander, and finally to his teary-eyed grandfather. Ransom was
also paid in the case of Biel.
In 1994, the ASG kidnapped 15 farm workers and
seven female teachers on their way from Isabela to the town of
Lantawan in Basilan.
Three weeks after the hostage taking, the 15 men
were hogtied and shot to death in a multiple summary execution. The
women were all released, again with suspected ransom payments. One
admitted to being raped more than once.
US troops welcome
While Metro Manila activists protest against US
presence in Mindanao, more than 80 percent of Basileños welcome the
holding of joint RP-US military exercises on their island.
Few Basileños believe the official line about
Americans li-miting their involvement to training. Except for around
two-dozen members of the Voice of Basilan, residents here want the
US presence.
Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar and most residents of
the island-province think other wise. Basilan’s rugged terrain,
the disposition of enemy forces, give high odds to Americans being
dragged into clashes. They don’t mind.
“Let me put this on record, I approve of
Balikatan, I approve of Balikatan coming here, I approve even if
they participate in direct combat,” Akbar said last week at a
provincial peace and order council meeting.
Hawks
Akbar is a Muslim, an ustadz, or religious
elder. He is also a former rebel of the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) and has had, in the last few years, to live down
charges of being an ally of the Abu Sayyaf.
In the process, he has become a hawk, one not
averse to legal shortcuts. His men kidnapped the family of Khadafy
Janjalani, following the Tuburan siege. The Abu Sayyaf leader’s
relatives, a pregnant wife included, were released unharmed. But
that example has prompted Christians to eye similar moves should the
Abus strike near home.
Akbar’s supporters say the example shown to
Janjalani have made the Abu Sayyaf wary of taking locals. However,
the bringing of hostages from other areas in Basilan, and sporadic
killings of Christians, continue to disturb the peace.
For the last eight months, more than 6,000
members of the Armed Forces have been trying to track down extremist
rebels on 137,900 hectares of rugged hills and numerous coves.
The ASG still holds American missionary couple
Martin and Gracia Burnham, taken last May from Dos Palmas, Palawan,
and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap.
Aside from regular troops, Basilan has 5,000
civilian vo-lunteers, trained and supervised by Airborne and Marine
units.
The paramilitary forces have been accused of
human rights violations. At least one, Kumander Buwaya, has a
warrant of arrest for torching the home of an Abu Sayyaf member’s
family.
In last week’s peace and order council
meeting, Akbar and other officials tackled a brewing disagreement
between police and Army troops, over Kumander Buwaya’s arrest.
The governor bluntly told the head of the
provincial prosecutor office, “to coordinate with the Army and
provincial government about these cases of harassment.” When the
prosecutor explained there were too many witnesses for the case to
be ignored, Akbar snapped back: “The enemy is good at tactics.”
Breathing space
For the governor and other members of the
council, Buwaya had every right to torch those homes. The Abu Sayyaf
had ambushed his father, brothers and killed several other
relatives.
Akbar pointed out: “Many lives were lost. He
only burned a house. Now you want us to call him a criminal?”
Business sector representative Louie Alano,
acknowled-ging the police’s duty to go through the motions of
arres-ting Buwaya, advised the Army brigade commander, “to just
keep him away for the time being, while the issue is hot.”
Sentiments like these are bound to appall
advocates of civil liberties.
But they have not known how to lose their farms
or have family members kidnapped year after year.
“These are desperate times. These has been
going on for 10 years now. At this point, Basileños will be willing
to even accept martial law,” says Alano.
He challenges critics of the Balikatan exercises
to come up with alternatives.
“It may not solve our problem immediately. It
may even be a mistake. But let’s give it a try.”
Alano, Akbar and Church officials here stress
that Basileños have no illusions about the military exercise. They
know it won’t solve the problem of Islamic radicalism.
For that, says Akbar, leaders have to address
the socio-political roots of the problem.
But Balikatan, he insists, can buy Basilan some
breathing space as its residents confront the national government
over festering issues that have spawned terrorism.
(To be continued)
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