Philippine military launches operation vs. Sayyaf terrorists in Rodwell kidnap case

From the Mindanao Examiner (Mar 28): Philippine military launches operation vs. Sayyaf terrorists in Rodwell kidnap case

The Philippine military has launched an operation to capture the notorious leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group tagged as behind the kidnapping of Australian adventurer Warren Rodwell on the southern region of Mindanao.

The 54-year old Rodwell was freed in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province on March 23 after his Filipino wife, Miraflor Gutang, paid 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 $2 million ransom.

“The operation has started already. There is an ongoing operation against Indama’s group in Basilan province,” General Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, a regional army commander, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

Cruz said the ransom received by the Abu Sayyaf would further threaten peace and security in the Muslim province, saying the terrorist group would likely to use the money to purchase illegal weapons and fund kidnappings and terrorism in Basilan and probably other parts of Mindanao.

“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,” he said.

Gutang claimed that she herself raised the money by selling off their house and vehicle and water refilling business in Zamboanga del Sur province, but her story raised more doubts because she had previously accused Rodwell of physical abuse and abandoned the Sydney man days before he was kidnapped in their seaside house in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Rodwell married the Filipino woman in June 2011 after they met on the internet. Gutang’s fantastic claim of herself raising the ransom was far from her previous statement following Rodwell’s kidnapping in which she said in a radio interview that “whoever had kidnapped my husband, he is not rich. Return him to us and please don’t hurt him. My husband is ill.”

Gutang, now lives with her parents – her father works as a farmer and mother, a housewife – in a modest house in Naga town. Both parents claimed Gutang was a battered wife. Gutang even filed police reports several times claiming she was allegedly assaulted by Rodwell, and police said that she was also planning to file charges against her husband with the Australian embassy in Manila.

On Thursday, Sakkalahul in a news conference 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.

Rodwell’s sister Denise and his brother Wayne, who flew to Manila from Australia to be reunited with the freed adventurer, also did not meet with Gutang.

“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 Gutang never even thanked him after the safe release of Rodwell.

Sakkalahul now 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. This is politically motivated,” he said, adding that his son, Kimhar, is running for the vice gubernatorial race in the province this mid-term elections.

“My only motivation in the negotiation is to save the life of Rodwell because the kidnappers will execute him, behead him on Easter Sunday, if their demand is not met,” Sakkalahul said.

He said it was also the same for other kidnapped victims - about a dozen of them - in Basilan whose family he also helped.

Sakkalahul’s wife Maria Teresa, who is also the Regional Assistant Tourism Secretary, also spoke about allegations against her husband and broke out in tears as she defended him and her family’s integrity and honor.

“It was so painful to us. It is not true. My husband’s concern as the vice governor is only to save the life of Rodwell and other kidnapped victims. I just told my husband to be strong because his conscience is clean, his heart is clean, his mind is clean and above all, God is with us, the truth is with us,” she said.

President Benigno Aquino has ordered an investigation into the payment of ransom to the terrorist group, saying, he has not seen any reports on the Rodwell case. “I haven’t seen a report from the concerned (authorities, the) PNP anti-kidnapping group and others,” he said, referring to the Philippine National Police.

Aquino said the government has a strict no-ransom policy. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said.

There were suspicion the ransom money either came from Rodwell’s family in Australia or from the Australian government and only used Gutang as a cover to justify the payment to the terrorist group, blamed for many kidnappings and bombings in the southern Philippines.

http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/03/philippine-military-launches-operation.html