The military can sustain its offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Sulu, killing militants while also losing soldiers in the process. Unless the offensive is accompanied by other measures, however, the bandits will always be able to recruit members to take the place of those slain or arrested.
A recent report can partly explain why. Quoting a confidential joint military and police threat assessment, the news report said that in the first half of the year alone, the Abu Sayyaf collected about $7.3 million or some P353 million in ransom for mostly foreign hostages.
For Filipina captive Marites Flor, the bandits made P20 million, according to the report. Her two Canadian companions were beheaded this year; a Norwegian was freed also reportedly after a ransom payment. But the bulk of the P353 million was reportedly paid for 14 Indonesians and four Malaysian boat crewmen, who were kidnapped in waters shared by the countries with the Philippines.
That kind of money guarantees more kidnappings. The amount is something the typical member of the Abu Sayyaf cannot hope to earn in his lifetime. This is among the reasons why the militants brushed off President Duterte’s hand of peace, proffered in the first days of his administration but quickly withdrawn. Kidnapping for ransom has become Sulu’s most lucrative industry.
The government insists that it follows a no-ransom policy. Yet the President himself had blurted out that P50 million was paid for the release of the Norwegian who was kidnapped together with Flor and the Canadians on Samal Island last year.
Military operations will never be enough to end this threat. At this point the government cannot match, through jobs and livelihood opportunities, the amounts collected by the Abu Sayyaf in exchange for their hostages. But the government can erode the bandits’ support among local residents, which is indispensable for the complicated task of keeping hostages.
Intelligence gathering must also be intensified, not only to pinpoint where the bandits are holed out with their captives, but also to trace any ransom payment and how the money is stashed away or spent. The military should be interested in this; ransom money is used by the Abu Sayyaf to buy guns and prepare improvised explosive devices that are used against government forces.
Eroding public support for the Abu Sayyaf also means a serious effort to bring development to Sulu. Local residents must understand the dividends of peace and have a stake in neutralizing the Abu Sayyaf along with its civilian supporters, including government officials suspected to be protecting them in exchange for a share of ransom money. The government must make it clear to the bandits and their supporters that it’s time to say goodbye to all that.
http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2016/10/31/1638951/editorial-lucrative-industry
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