Arroyo vows again to finish Abu Sayyaf after Basilan clash

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday ordered government forces to continue their efforts in "immediately putting an end to terrorism" in southern Philippines. She made the announcement following Wednesday's fierce fighting between government troops and Abu Sayyaf bandits in Basilan that resulted in the death of 54 combatants, prompting the directive to crush the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group. The tough words have become a refrain throughout the years. Whenever the military and the police clash with the Abu Sayyaf, the President would order government troops to annihilate the bandits, with a vow in recent years to eliminate the group before her term ends in 2010. In 2007, Arroyo said, "If we are to become a First World country, we have to put a stop to their ideological nonsense and their acts once and for all... I have a specified timeline - in three years - to end armed rebellion." Ten months before the President’s term expires and despite repeated promises to "crush" terrorism in the country, peace in conflict-torn regions in Mindanao has yet to come. At least 200 people have been killed by the Abu Sayyaf since Mrs. Arroyo came into power in 2001. After the Abu Sayyaf's deadly Valentine's Day bombings in Makati City and Davao in 2005, Mrs. Arroyo denounced the terrorists yet again. "More than ever, we must not pull back, but move forward to wipe out the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf," Mrs. Arroyo said. In May 2003, the President met with then US President George W. Bush and agreed to a joint military effort to crush the Abu Sayyaf "once and for all." The US ended up offering $30 million in military assistance. In February of the same year, Mrs. Arroyo even boasted that if the military would only use their resources wisely, the bandit group could be wiped out in just three months. In 2002, the President made a similar order to "search and destroy" the Abu Sayyaf, following the rescue of American kidnap victim Gracia Burnham, who was among 20 people seized at the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in May 2001. "Terrorists will be hunted down relentlessly wherever they are. They will be given no room to maneuver, to hide, or to rest. We will not stop until they are all accounted for," Mrs. Arroyo said. The Arroyo administration intensified its anti-terrorism program by forming Oplan Bantay Laya in 2002. At that time, the government had not yet set a specific deadline when to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf group. Oplan Bantay Laya originally planned to "destroy the Abu Sayyaf soonest." The 2010 deadline only applied then to the annihilation of communist group New People's Army. As for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the plan was just to "contain" its members. "Each major service (of Oplan Bantay Laya) shall organize, train, equip, deploy, and sustain its forces to achieve a strategic defeat of the communist terrorist movement by 2010, destroy the Abu Sayyaf, and other terrorist groups, and contain the secessionist groups," Mrs. Arroyo said in 2002. Military honors Mrs. Arroyo delivered her renewed order to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf group before the bodies of the slain soldiers were returned to their families Saturday afternoon. The bodies of 10 of the 23 slain soldiers arrived in Manila Saturday night and were given military honors at the Villamor Air Base.
Draped in Philippine flags, the caskets of the 10 soldiers were unloaded from a C-130 aircraft that carried the bodies from Zamboanga, a radio report said. On Friday, the slain soldiers were brought to Zamboanga from Basilan. Among the bodies flown back to Manila were those of 1st Lt. Chester Varela, 1st Lt. Meljun Evangelista, Staff Sgt. Johnny Corpus, Staff Sgt. Roberto Gamboa, Pfc Ronald Bayos, Pfc Jefferson Cailao, Pfc Ernie John Marquez, Cpl. Renato Dindin, and Sgt. Randy Bacaro. From Manila, four of the remains will be brought to Iloilo, and two others to Mactan in Cebu. The remaining bodies will lie in state at the chapels of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Army. The 13 bodies left in Zamboanga will no longer be flown to Manila. These will be brought to Mindanao and Visayas as requested by their families, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. "It is emphasized that since yesterday (Friday), the families already had a choice whether to immediately bring home their relative-soldier or not," the military said. "The delay (in flying the slain soldiers) was not caused by the visit of PGMA to Zamboanga today," it added. Mrs. Arroyo flew to Zamboanga Saturday to give honor to the slain soldiers and drop by a military hospital where some of the wounded military men and policemen were recuperating. During her visit to southern Philippines, Mrs. Arroyo gave P250,000 each to families of the slain soldiers. Families of critically wounded soldiers were also given P100,000 each, while families of soldiers who sustained minor injuries received 50,000 each. - GMANews.TV