COMMENTARY 

Abu Sayyaf Is at Work Again – for the Government

These are indications that the Abu Sayyaf is once again being used by the administration and the military to sabotage Mindanao, not just the peace process. By keeping the island in perpetual conflict, the Manila government can easily manipulate the situation to benefit those who have designs on the resources of Mindanao.

By Andres Rebana 
Bulatlat.com

For so long now, the government, particularly the military, has shrugged off the charge that it had created a Frankenstein’s monster in the Abu Sayyaf. This, despite the fact that, while the Abu Sayyaf started out as a fundamentalist movement with the loftiest of Islamic ideals, it was infiltrated by police-military agents such as the late Edwin Angeles, whose entry into the original Abu Sayyaf caused the group’s adventures into kidnapping-for-ransom, murder and terrorism.

The police had admitted in the past that Edwin Angeles was their man and that he was sent in not only to spy on Abdurajak Janjalani but also to sabotage the group’s Islamic foundations. It is public knowledge that the group only started to turn to banditry after the death of Janjalani and the reign of Angeles.

Another accusation that the government has pooh-poohed was that it used the Abu Sayyaf to sabotage the peace process between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front. The tactic was simple: the Abu Sayyaf would wreak havoc in Mindanao and the military would blame it on the MNLF. This limited the elbow room of the MNLF, which could not deny the fact that some of its former members – like Galib Andang, alias Kumander Robot – had gone astray, into the arms of the bandit group.

In its negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the government is apparently doing the same thing.

Recently, Hamsiraji Sali, one of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf who has since broken away from the leadership of Radulan Sahiron and Khaddafy Janjalani, has been very accessible to the media. About two weeks ago, at the height of the controversy involving an Iraqi diplomat accused of having links with the Abu Sayyaf (on the basis, mind you, of a cellphone purportedly owned by an Abu Sayyaf member in which the diplomat’s number had appeared), Sali went on radio claiming that the Abu Sayyaf will not anymore go into kidnap-for-ransom because, according to him, the Iraqis are giving them money anyway.

The only ones who can benefit from Sali’s claims is the United States government. In its desperate attempt to picture the Iraqis as terrorists with links to Osama bin Laden, the Bush administration has sought and gotten the help of the Arroyo administration.

Then, just recently, Sali again gave a media interview in which he claimed that a faction of the Abu Sayyaf that he supposedly heads would move over from Basilan to Central Mindanao.  Why, it is not clear, except for Sali to say that they are doing this for Islam.

But only the government can benefit from this move. By claiming that the Abu Sayyaf will now operate in Central Mindanao, the Abu Sayyaf will taint the legitimate revolutionary aspirations of the MILF. It will serve as a magnet because the government will then have a reason to bombard Central Mindanao once again. Worse, the government can claim that the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf have decided to team up, providing further justification for further aggression. The victims of all these, of course, is the peace process and the Moros of Mindanao.

These are indications that the Abu Sayyaf, through Sali, is once again being used by the administration and the military to sabotage Mindanao, not just the peace process. By keeping the island in perpetual conflict, the Manila government can easily manipulate the situation to benefit those who have designs on the resources of Mindanao.

This is exactly what happened recently when, after the instigation by such people as North Cotabato governor Manuel Pinol, the military launched an offensive against the MILF and the people living in and near Pikit. The smoke had not cleared when President Arroyo announced that the area around Liguasan Marsh, which has been cleared of inhabitants (who were told not to return to their farms because of land mines), will be turned into an “agricultural complex” (read: plantations for palm oil, among other export crops).

The main beneficiaries of the war in Pikit, as it turned out, are the big business interests who have wanted to get a hold of the Liguasan Marsh area. They found invaluable allies and attack dogs in Pinol and Gen. Angelo Reyes.

Anyway, sometime in August last, Arlyn dela Cruz, the reporter whose access to the Abu Sayyaf is legendary, reported in the Inquirer that Sali, who is wanted for various kidnappings and murders, had met with Col. Ralph Villanueva and two other Army officers from the Army Intelligence Service.

The meeting, dela Cruz reported, was held in Basilan and was arranged by businessman Muctar Muarip. Dela Cruz cited Army sources for her report. In a phone interview with Sali, dela Cruz got a confirmation from the bandit that indeed, the meeting had taken place. Sali said he offered his help “to keep the peace in Basilan” and not to surrender.

The question is: Why did the Army officers meet with a notorious bandit? Why didn’t they just arrest him right there and then? If this man was so vile, why negotiate with him?

The answer could be that, Sali works for the military or at least had developed a working relationship with it. This link is so obvious. It could explain all the claims Sali has made that tend to sabotage the MILF.

Having said that, I won’t be surprised if, one day, the government says the new Balikatan “exercises” with the U.S. will be held in Central Mindanao. The rationale for that is being slowly and skillfully set by the government. Bulatlat.com

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