Military begins operation vs Abu Sayyaf bandits

From the Manila Times (Mar 30): Military begins operation vs Abu Sayyaf bandits

The Philippine military has launched an operation to capture the notorious leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group tagged as responsible for the kidnapping of Australian Warren Rodwell in the southern region of Mindanao.

Rodwell, 54, was freed in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province on March 23 after his Filipino wife, Miraflor Gutang, paid a P4-million ransom to terrorist leader Puruji Indama.

Gutang sought the help of Basilan Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakkalahul in negotiating with the terrorists who originally demanded a $2-million ransom.

“There is an ongoing operation against Indama’s group in Basilan province,” Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz 3rd, a regional army commander, told The Manila Times.

“We are worried about this situation now because the Abu Sayyaf may use the ransom to fund terror activities and kidnappings and endangering civilian lives,” Cruz added.

Gutang claimed that she herself raised the money by selling their house, vehicle, and their water refilling business in Zamboanga del Sur province.

Her story, however, raised more doubts because she had previously accused Rodwell of physical abuse. She also abandoned her husband days before he was kidnapped in their seaside house in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Rodwell married Gutang in June 2011 after they met on the Internet. Gutang now lives with her parents —her father works as a farmer—in a modest house in Naga town.

On Thursday, Sakkalahul said Gutang—who was not invited by the Australian embassy in Manila to receive Rodwell—was no longer answering her phone and her whereabouts are unknown.

“I don’t know what happened to Flor or where she is now. I keep on calling her on the phone, but got no answers,” Sakkalahul said, adding that Gutang never even thanked him after the safe release of Rodwell.

Sakkalahul also claimed that his political foes are spreading lies in Basilan, accusing him of taking a cut on the ransom and even linked him to previous kidnappings in the province.

“I strongly deny all these accusations. I never benefited, not even a single centavo, in the ransom. I have no participation in any of the kidnappings in Basilan. I am the committee chairman on the provincial peace and order, and co-chairman of the crisis management committee of Basilan,” he said.
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/nation/44413-military-begins-operation-vs-abu-sayyaf-bandits