By Erick Gonzalez
The Abu Sayyaf Group’s influence is growing in Sulu “as it enjoys protection from local officials,” the non-government organization Save Sulu Movement said Monday in a statement, as it called on the Senate to investigate provincial and municipal officials who may be coddling the terror group notorious for kidnapping for ransom and violence against civilians and military.
The SSM appealed to the Senate to look into reports of local officials supporting the Abu Sayyaf, adding a law should be passed “ordering ransom payment as a criminal act and that conniving officials should be criminally liable.”
The group said the Abu Sayyaf “remained unassailable” in a province that is historically known as a bailiwick for warlords. It quoted Ricardo Visaya, the former Armed Forces chief and current head of the National Irrigation Administration, in an interview by a foreign news agency as saying that “governors of Sulu down to village chiefs have been coddling the ASG.”
During negotiations for the release of kidnapped victims, the local officials “claim the major share” in the Abu Sayyaf’s ransom, the movement’s statement added. In some cases, these officials “demand more money than what was originally stipulated,” SSM added.
The “breakdown of negotiations” involving factions of the Abu Sayyaf and its supporters “has led to tragedies” such as the beheading of a Malaysian hostage in 2015, the group added.
SSM spokesman professor Octavio A. Dinampo, a former ASG kidnap victim himself, said: “It is sickening to keep on hearing the no-ransom policy when everyone knows too well that ransom is actually being paid and brokered by the local government officials, thus perpetuating the business of the ASG.”
Local politicians supply the Abu Sayyaf with weapons “because they can either smuggle or acquire them from the military,” the group added.
“Terrorism is a menace that is threatening all of us in the country, not only in Sulu,” said Dinampo, a professor at the Mindanao State University in Sulu. “We want the Senate to investigate the backers of ASG, including politicians and businessmen in our area.”
“We also urge the kidnapped victims to cooperate with the authorities so that we can finally bring the kidnappers to the bar of justice,” the group’s statement added. “We also urge the Committee on Muslim Affairs in Congress to conduct public hearings in Sulu and personally listen to the stories of the people on the ground.”
Although the SSM has repeatedly informed the authorities about the local officials’ alleged participation with the Abu Sayyaf, none of them have taken action, the group said. It noted that no official in Sulu has been accused of receiving ransom money on the pretext of negotiation.
SSM founder Temogen Tulawie said he has affidavits of former kidnap victims and negotiators that could prove the connivance of local officials with the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings.
“Despite the declaration of the State of Lawlessness and the augmentation of military and police forces to reach 10,000 in Sulu, the ASG is still on a kidnapping rampage and even expanding its target to as far as the peaceful and tourist-rich island of Bohol,” the SSM said.
Military offensives against the ASG are not enough to neutralize the terrorist group as the real situation in Sulu “unfolds a totally different story of kidnapping becoming a cottage industry with local officials acting as promoters, brokers and protectors,” the group said.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., Western Mindanao army chief, has said the Abu Sayyaf have remained entrenched in Sulu due to the nonexistent government power in places overrun by terrorists. With PNA